Worlds Collide
by Red Arrow 123
Summary: Two new members join Young Justice...Read to find out more XD Rated T for pretty minor cussing
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Well, I just want to say that this is a new Fic me and my best friend have been working on. I have to give her most of the credit, since she came up with a lot of ideas for it XD Her character is Irongirl, and mine is Miss USA. Basically, "Team Marvel" wanted a bridge between Marvel and DC so Miss USA and Irongirl joined Young Justice. Every chapter will be like an episode, so at the end the villain of the chapter will be talking to the Light. Although every now and then we will throw in a chapter where Young Justice has a day off and is just hanging out. And I'll tell you the next chapter will be like that :)**

**Disclaimer: We do not own anything other than Miss USA and Irongirl's personalities and historys. Sadly :(**

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><p><strong>Mount Justice<strong>

**September 16th, 1:00 EDT**

Miss USA followed her mentor to Mount Justice. She was wearing her Miss USA outfit- red knee boots with heels, a blue skirt, a blue strapless top with a silver star on the chest and red and white straps covering her stomach, and her silver domino mask. Her curly mahogany hair fell just past her shoulders, completing the protégés look. Miss USA drummed her blue-and-silver gloved fingers on the armrest of Captain America's car. She shot him a dirty look before returning her gaze to the mountain they were approaching. No, she did not want any part of the Justice League and their silly little "Young Justice" squad of whiny sidekicks.

"I can't believe you're really making me do this." The annoyed teen mumbled as she stepped out in unison with the superhero. She didn't care if he was stronger and older than her- Miss USA still had a mind of her own and she wasn't afraid to speak it.

"At least you'll know someone already." Captain America pointed out. Miss USA's left eyebrow shot up in suspicion. Before she could get a word in, they were already at the front door of Mount Justice when she noticed two suits of armor already standing there. The larger one was, of course, Ironman, and the shorter suit had pigtails on it, declaring that it was most definitaly Irongirl. If she was taller, and didn't have the feminine touch to her outfit, you might get them confused with one another, with their outfits being so similar.

Miss USA gave a smile when the two others turned to see them. When Irongirl spotted the patriotic teen, she started waving in a hyper-active way that made Miss USA giggle a little and wave back.

"Excited?" Miss USA teased her only friend other than Cap.

"Does it show?" Irongirl asked, starting to shake a little and bounce on the balls of her feet.

Miss USA laughed. Maybe if Irongirl wasn't wearing the suit she would look fine, but watching an armored girl bounce is a bit too funny for anybody to keep their cool. Of course, Miss USA would bet anything it would look any better if a walking America Flag did the same.

Just then, they all heard the sound of something being lowered and saw the ground turn into a ramp with the Red Tornado and the Young Justice squad at the bottom. Miss USA saw out of the corner of her eye that her normally bouncing-off-the-walls friend was calm and still.

"Come." The robot told them, turning to walk deeper into the mountain. Miss USA stole a glance at her mentor, her anger from before slowly coming back. Then she reluctantly followed them behind the Red Tornado.

As they stepped through, a computer identified them. "Irongirl, B08. Miss USA, B09. Ironman, 17. Captain America, 18."

They were transported to a large room where Young Justice and Red Tornado stood. Irongirl looked them all over quickly, but her hidden eyes lingered on Robin for a moment longer than the other 5. She didn't like him because of how he looked, she admired his skill and experience. Miss USA, on the other hand, took a second look at two boys, Robin and Superboy. For being 13, Robin was ripped. And miniature Superman here had the muscles down pat. Maybe she wasn't going to resent this place after all...

"Team, this is Miss USA and Irongirl." Batman suddenly emerged from the shadows to introduce the new teens. "They are protégés of two members of Team Marvel and will be joining you all in the Young Justice squad." He explained in a neutral tone.

"Well, that was sort of obvious." The 13-year-old boy piped up, instantly receiving the signature Batglare.

Miss USA found that funny, but she was distracted by a red head, Kid Flash, who's eyes were nearly bulging out of his head. But when he met her gaze, the speedster saw his chance.

He ran over to Miss USA and took her by surprise. "Hi, I'm Kid Flash. It's my pleasure to welcome you to the team. I'm sure you'll be a great addition to the Young Justice team. If you ever need someone to show you around I'd be happy to take you on a private tour." The carrot-top rambled on and on.

Yet again today, Miss USA raised her eyebrow and put a finger on Kid Flash's chest and pushed him away from her.

Miss USA looked up at Cap as he glared down at the speed demon. "She's thirteen." He told him in a voice Miss USA hadn't even heard him use on the worst of villains before.

Kid Flash turn paleish green color. Robin and Artemis broke out in hoots of laughter as the speedster returned to his place by the team. Miss USA gave him a death glare that was nearly as intimidating at Batman's Batglare. _Great _KF thought_. N__ever gonna live that one down._

Then the green martian floated over to Irongirl and Miss USA. "Hello, I'm M'Gann M'Orzz, but my Earth name is Megan." She said politely.

Irongirl was the first to respond to the kind alien. "Hi...I guess you already know who I am, sort of. But...I don't really feel..comfortable?...with giving out my real name yet..." She was afraid of how they might react to this, seeing as Miss Martian... Megan... so easily trusted her with her secret identity. Luckily, she didn't have to find out. Some sort of holographic screen popped up, startling Irongirl a bit, although she tried her best not to react. The face on the screen was a bit more surprising.

"Superman to Young Justice." Wow. The Man of Steel was specifically contacting the team? Irongirl wasn't that big of a fan of Superman, but hey, he was one of the most powerful heroes out there. Did he actually need help from a bunch of teenagers or was he trying to keep them busy? "The League and I have-" he barely paused. "Business to take care of at the Watchtower. Meanwhile, I need someone to look after Lois Lane." A picture of a woman with dark hair popped up on the screen. How in the world did he do that? Irongirl recognized her as a journalist for... which newspaper? It was a big one, in Metropolis... Oh, the Daily Planet. She was a big one. Lois was constantly on the front page with huge stories about murders and gang wars... and she was also constantly being rescued by the Big Blue Boy Scout.

"You want us to babysit your girlfriend?" Kid Flash said, immediately seeming to regret it as the adults in the room (and wherever Superman was, presumably the Watchtower) glared at him. Irongirl grinned inside her helmet.

Superman continued as if nothing had happened. "She has a tendency to get into trouble, and she's currently investigating the disappearance of Lex Luthor, head of Lex Corp." That Lex Corp part was sort of obvious, but Superman seemed to think they were babies.

"Luthor is missing?" Aqualad spoke for the first time since Miss USA and Irongirl had arrived. Superman gave him a "I just said that" look and continued.

"Chances are that there's something more to it than a simple kidnapping. You can expect Lois to be at the Daily Planet building tomorrow morning. Follow her and try to keep things from getting out of hand. The majority of the League should be available by the time you find anything." The mission seemed pretty simple. Just spy on this lady, save her butt since Superman couldn't... easy peasy, right?

The screen went blank and disappeared, which was followed by a cracking sound. Everyone in the room turned to see Superboy holding a crushed battery, with bits of plastic covering the ground next to him.

"The remote!" Kid Flash exclaimed, zipping towards the clone and kneeling to pick up some of the shards. "How could you?"

"Dude." Robin said, staring mainly at the battery. _How could he still be holding that? _Irongirl thought. The battery acid should've burned his hand from what she understood. But, of course, he WAS a Kryptonian. He would probably barely feel it if he was shot. "Why did you even have that with you?"

"I thought I would go back and watch TV when we were done..." Wow. Even if he was insanely strong, he was a bit crazy.

"It's okay. I'll... go get a broom." Miss Martian said quickly, zooming off towards who-knew-where to get said broom. Aqualad didn't say anything. They were already proving themselves crazy to the newest additions to the team...

"Sorry." Superboy said gruffly to the red head on the ground.

"I'm not speaking to you." Oh, great. What a drama queen.

"You can buy another remote, pinhead." Miss USA said, obviously still angry about the earlier... incident, which Irongirl had actually found to be sort of funny. About the same time, Artemis said something similar. "Buy another one, Baywatch." Miss USA smirked at the blonde, who at first didn't seem very concerned with the other girl, but the gave a small smile back.

Miss Martian returned with a broom and dustpan, quickly sweeping up what was left of the remote and turning to Superboy. "Um... would you like me to take that?" She said, gesturing to the battery in his fist. Irongirl didn't notice until much later that the martian was blushing.

"I've got it." Superboy said, walking off in the direction that Miss Martian had come from. She followed him, of course, seeing as she had to dump what was once a remote. Irongirl really hoped that they knew how to properly dispose of that battery, but seeing as no one said anything she had to assume that they did.

"Does that happen often?" Irongirl asked quietly, almost certain that no one heard her. Then, of course, Aqualad looked up and shrugged. Either being on this team would be very exciting or very dangerous.

**Metropolis**

**September 17th, 5:54 EDT**

Early the next morning the Young Justice squad and their two newest additions met up at Metropolis, just outside the Daily Planet headquarters.

"What's the plan?" Miss USA asked bluntly, stifling a yawn. She had stayed up later than normal last night.

Aqualad turned to her and the rest of the team. "We are going to split up into pairs. Miss USA and KF will be together," Kid Flash looked like he was going to pass out, "Superboy and Miss Martian, Artemis and Irongirl, then Robin you will come with me."

As if on cue, Irongirl and Artemis looked at each other. But then the archer look over at KF with a smirk. "Hey, at least you'll be able to get in a 'private tour' now."

Robin, being a little immature to his age, laughed at his friend but put a hand over his mouth to not get called out on by Aqualad, who was already giving him a look.

"Miss USA and KF, start patrolling around this area on the west side.. Lois Lane might already be out there." Aqualad told them. With a nod, Kid Flash took off with Miss USA flying right behind him. "Miss Martian and Superboy do the same but take the east side. Miss Martian, link us up and don't go out of range." The green-skin girl nodded and floated away with Superboy in the opposite direction the first pair had went. "Now, Artemis and Irongirl stay here but don't give yourselves away. Robin and I will check around in a close perimeter to see if anything is suspicious or if we find Lois Lane."

While the Boy Wonder and the Atlantean walked off, Miss USA and Kid Flash were having a very hard time being near each other.

"Stop doing that!" The red headed mess complained. Every time he took off, Miss USA would use her powers to stop him.

"We need to stick together, bird brain." Miss USA rolled her eyes.

"Listen, if you're still mad at me about yesterday- I'm sorry. I mean, you're just...WOW." That was the speed demon's mistake. In one swift movement, Miss USA used her super strength to punch him into the brick building they were walking by.

Miss USA walked over and grabbed his collar. "Mention my looks again and you're really dead meat." She growled, letting Kid Flash go. He steadied himself and rubbed his head.

"Ow." The fun ball of energy that always had a joke to crack actually looked hurt and defenseless this time.

_Found her! _Artemis and Irongirl thought at the same time. As Wally was thrown into a wall, they had stood in the bushes waiting for Lois to come out. It was pretty awkward between them, since neither really had a clue what to talk about.

Within a minute the whole team was on Lois Lane's trail, wherever it went.

The woman walked quickly towards her car, fumbling with the keys a bit as she unlocked the door. Irongirl figured it was probably because of how chilly it already was. Not to mention dark, which worked to the team's advantage. The team. It was hard to believe that she was suddenly on a team, instead of just doing small jobs that Ironman deemed fit for a little girl. But she wasn't THAT little. She was thirteen years old, and really, she wouldn't stay short forever... She needed to focus. This was important, and yet Irongirl let her mind wander? What was wrong with her?

The car started up, and if Irongirl wasn't in her suit she would've jumped from the sudden noise. Her suit gave her a sense of safety that she just didn't have otherwise... Dangit, she needed to pay attention! Kid Flash was already speeding after the reporter, having somehow changed his suit black. She sort of wished she could do that, seeing as her red and gold armor not only stood out against the city's buildings and roads, but any light reflected off the metal surface, making her easy to spot. How would she go about this? She couldn't get as close as the others, obviously... And flying up too high would just make her lose her way. At this point, Robin had run off and disappeared, being the ninja that he was. Artemis gave her an exasperated look.

"Come on." The blonde girl said. "We need to get going and I'm not leaving a little kid alone."

Okay, that had bugged her. "I'm NOT a little kid." Irongirl said, maybe a bit too loudly. Luckily, there didn't seem to be anyone to hear what she said, seeing as Lois had gotten pretty far ahead by now. Deciding to avoid further embarrassment, Irongirl kicked on the rockets in her boots and flew up a bit. She wouldn't go too high, she decided, but high enough and far enough back (possibly to the side, as well) that Lois (and, hopefully, any other citizens of Metropolis) wouldn't spot her.

Aqualad, Artemis, and Superboy, who couldn't move quite as quickly as Kid Flash or fly, had motorcycles of some sort, which they either brought on the ship or came here on. Irongirl wasn't sure, seeing as she had to fly here on her own. She wondered if Robin had something similar and was just good at hiding it. She didn't see him anywhere, so it was certainly possible.

As Irongirl flew, she tried keeping her mind on Lois and her vehicle, which was moving a speed that she suspected to be illegal towards downtown. It would be really, really awkward to think about most other things and then find out to what extent the others could see her thoughts. If it was anything... even what she was thinking now would probably be a bit weird. But then, she couldn't hear anything from their heads, unless she was blocking them out somehow? Telepathy was crazy.

Where in the world was this lady going, anyway?

_"Luthor was last seen downtown, not too far from the police station." _The Boy Wonder's voice was suddenly in her head, causing her to jump a bit mid air. She hadn't realized that she was thinking where they could hear. _"That's how his robot lady reported his kidnapping so fast. How in the world Lex Luthor got himself kidnapped is another question entirely..." _That... was a bit freaky. Irongirl had no idea what he was talking about. Robot lady? And... wait, kidnapped?

_"I thought they said he was missing." _Miss Martian cut in.

_"They did. Everyone is. But he was supposedly kidnapped, and that's that. The media's trying to keep it under wraps until they have more details."_ There went Robin again...

_"And you know this because...?"_ Miss USA said... err, thought... Irongirl's friend found this pretty suspicious.

What was even freakier than all this was that Irongirl could practically HEAR Robin grinning.

_"Robin is... good with computers."_ Aqualad thought, not quite annoyed but... Yeah, it definitely bugged him to have to explain all this.

Miss USA crossed her arms at Aqualad's logic and flew a bit faster than intended to. Soon she had caught up to Miss M and that took her by surprise. Miss USA crashed into a telephone pole right where Lois Lane stopped at a red light.

"_Way to go_." KF said sarcastically, as Lois spotted her.

"_Shut up, you two_." Artemis said, with a hint of jealousy in her voice.

Miss USA ignored them both and shot up in the air again. She ignored the voices of the other team members as Lois started spotting each of them...

As the red light turned green, Lois put the pedal to the metal and shot off, leaving the Young Justice members to speed up to catch up to her.

Lois Lane made a sharp left and started going way off mark to try and shake the teens from her tail. _The nerve of Superman! _She thought_. Thinking I can't care for myself! _What tipped her off that it was him, was the somewhat smaller replica of the Man of Steel.

Soon Lois realize the teens weren't giving up easily, so she pulled over in an alleyway and stepped out to talk with them.

Four motorcycle-like vehicles pulled up behind her, Kid Flash also skidded his running to a stop, and the last three members of the team landed on the ground.

"What is going on?" Lois Lane demanded, taking in the scene around her.

Aqualad stepped up first. "We are on a mission from Superman." He told her in a calm tone. You could almost see smoke coming out of Lois's ears. Eight- EIGHT -teenagers to watch over her? Aqualad saw her anger. "Superman is only concerned about your safety. Lex Luther is a dangerous man."

Lois Lane sighed and crossed her arms. "You're not giving up, are you." She said it more of a statement than a question. The whole team gave her a firm nod. "Well, just stay out of the way."

They wouldn't have a problem fulfilling the journalist's request. They were only really her to keep an eye on her. There didn't have to be any interaction unless she got herself into (yet another) life threatening situation... so, yeah, Irongirl figured they'd help her out quite a bit. But that wouldn't be "in the way", it'd be saving her life.

The woman got back on the road, and of course the team did, too. _"So,"_ thought Kid Flash, _"do you think I'd have a chance with her?"_

Oblivious to the fact that this time it actually was a joke, Irongirl replied. _"It'd be illegal." _she thought flatly.

_"...so I guess you didn't think it was funny?"_ He asked, laughing even in his thoughts.

Miss USA came to her rescue. _"Well, seeing how you've acted so far..."_

_"You're not gonna let that one go, are you."_ It wasn't a question.

Things continued like this for what had to be at LEAST half an hour. Everyone would be silent for a bit, then someone would try to break the ice with some sort of joke. Irongirl could tell that the awkwardness was partially her fault, of course. She and Miss USA hadn't been able to bond like the rest of the team, and so things were tense. What little interaction they had with the others hadn't been all that great, in Irongirl's eyes. Miss USA had already been rubbed the wrong way by the ginger speedster, and Irongirl hadn't even trusted them with her secret identity... they probably all hated her.

Now she couldn't help but let her mind wander. This wasn't going all that great, and things were moving so slow... Her thoughts moved from place to place. She noted to herself that Thor really needed a haircut, and that she needed to talk to Ton- Ironman about adding maybe a few of the weapons that he had but had denied her access to onto her suit. Then, of course, she moved on to even less serious things... Specifically, Harry Potter. What could she say? She was a nerd. A Potter loving nerd. She couldn't wait to see the last movie...

_"Harry Potter? Really?"_ Artemis thought from below.

_"Ugh. I need to think quieter, right?"_ Irongirl could feel their response... tons of nods.

_"Thor DOES have girly hair, if it makes you feel any better. And Harry Potter... it's better to think about that then Edward. Ugh. He's not a vampire, he's a fairy!"_ Miss USA thought, flying not too far away.

"Oh, don't get me started about that freak!" Irongirl couldn't tell which one of them thought that.

_"Well, Edward's better than Jacob!"_ Okay, that was Kid Flash for sure.

_"Dude."_ ...Robin? Yeah, definitely Robin. _"He's a STALKER!"_

"_Kid. If you think that sparkly fair__i__es are better than vampire slaying wolves..._" Miss USA thought, shaking her head. "_Who votes he goes to a ther__a__pist when we're done with this?_"

Robin and Irongirl both voted yes immediately, giggling a bit as they did so. Artemis, of course, put in her opinion. _"Yeah, although that Jacob kid isn't much better..." _Artemis... wasn't a fan of Twilight. At all. Aqualad kept quiet, not really wanting to get involved, and Miss Martian and Superboy were pretty much clueless.

_"I think," _Robin thought, _"that we can all agree that Bella is an idiot, though."_ The team voiced their agreement.

"_I had a friend with a cow named Bella..._" Miss USA thought absentmindedly.

_"Oh yeah? Well I lived next door to a bunch of cows."_ Irongirl wasn't really sure what that proved, but she was actually having fun right now._ "And the only good Bella is Bellatrix Lestrange!"_

"_No! Bella was sweet. But she died. Don't you find it ironic? Bella in Twilight IS a cow and I knew a cow named Bella that died...Hm. And in a s__i__nce Twilight Bella did 'die' with the whole changing vampire thing after giving birth to Nessie_." Miss USA thought. "_Although, it did save her life despite the fact Jacob was pissed at her but fe-_" Miss USA stopped when the team was silent. "_Sorry...I have an...addiction_." She thought sheepishly, wishing she hadn't rambled on with the Twilight facts.

Robin laughed, and Superboy spoke... or thought up. _"You're talking about cows now?"_

_"She wasn't dead enough..."_ Artemis thought.

_"Agreed."_ Wow. Even Kid Flash hated Bella.

"_Well, I think we all know at__least KF will be dead enough by the time we get back_." Miss USA growled a thought at him.

_"Dude! I didn't even do anything that time!"_ Kid Flash thought, sounding a bit whiny.

Aqualad interrupted._ "Enough. If you're not arguing with Artemis you're arguing with Miss USA now?"_

"_He just isn't satisfied when he's not annoying someone, Aqualad, and he's now chosen me to annoy!_" Miss USA complained, hoping to pull an 'I'm so innocent' card with the team leader.

Things got quiet again and Lois pulled over. She wasn't as close to the police station as they all figured she would be, but then she didn't NEED to be all that close with them around. The woman climbed out of her car, pulling a notebook and pen out of her purse. It crossed Irongirl's mind that this job was more fit for the police than a lone reporter, but hey, Miss Lane was known for her... uh... risky? Oh, Irongirl couldn't think of a word. She was just known for getting into trouble while she researched her stories.

Aqualad was the first off his bike, followed by Artemis. Superboy and Robin stayed on the road for a few minutes, though, and Kid Flash ran around a way back while the three flying girls kept watch up above.

"I thought I told you to stay out of the way."

"_Inconsiderate, much?_" Miss USA snapped in her mind. We were only making sure she wasn't going to get killed!

Lois, of course, couldn't hear her.

"We won't be bothering you. We'd just like to be close enough to lend a hand if needed." Aqualad said gently. He was pretty good with people, when you thought about it. Irongirl had yet to actually hear him get mad and yell at anyone. He'd gotten annoyed and chastised Kid Flash and Miss USA, yes, but that was as far as he went.

"...fine. But stay back and let me do my job." Lois said, walking away a bit and scribbling something down.

For some reason, Miss USA's mind wandered to an old NCIS episode she saw. Abby had found a box with four fingers in sand. Where the finger was cut off, the sand was red with you guess what. One of the fingers had her favorite nail polish color- Artic Blue.

Miss Martian was a bit freaked out by their new member's thoughts, of course. _"Um... Miss USA?"_

"_Mhm?_" Miss USA thought back.

_"What was that all about?"_ The martian girl was almost afraid of her, at this point. Well, maybe not OF her, seeing as it was one against seven if something was up, but maybe afraid for her sanity...

"_I watch a lot of NCIS with Cap_." She replied nonchalantly. "_I just happened to think of that episode. At__least I didn't bring up the one with Abby's farting dog pillow_."

Robin was laughing, of course, because that was what he did best. At least it wasn't that freaky laugh that Kid Flash hated.

_"Oh, that makes a bit of sense!"_ Miss Martian said, back to her usual happy attitude.

"_Well, you're lucky. I don't normally make much sense..._" The patriot shrugged.

"_I can testify to that_." Irongirl thought, looking around. Nothing had happened yet... which was sort of surprising.

Miss USA scanned the ground. "_Uh, aren't we missing someone?_" She thought, not spotting who they were supposed to keep an eye on and protect in case anything got out of hand.

"Ah, crap!" Artemis said out loud, running to where the woman had been just moments ago. _"Do you think she ditched us?"_

"_I thought we agreed we wouldn't get in her way, but she is still pretty stubborn_." Miss USA flew to the ground by Artemis.

_"Miss Martian, can you track her?" _Aqualad asked, sounding way more calm than he felt. They were failing Superman. If he was worried about that, he could only imagine how Superboy must feel...

Miss Martian nodded, and a moment later she floated down. _"She's not far, but she's moving fast... but I can't see her... Hello, Megan, she's underground! She was probably captured!"_

_"She gets captured a LOT."_ Irongirl thought, touching down a couple yards away.

"_Miss Martian, can you tell where exactly underground?_" Miss USA asked.

"Well, she's headed northeast, but I don't know how to get down there. We'll have to search." The martian girl said aloud as the others gathered around. "Uh... Superboy? Can you hear echoes from a tunnel or anything?"

The boy stood there for a minute, obviously listening, then walked around a bit. Finally, he stopped... and punched a hole in the ground. It was pretty deep, which was amazing, seeing as he wasn't THAT big. Still, he wasn't quite in the tunnel yet.

Miss USA stayed silent as she started to moved more dirt out of the way with her mind. She kept digging deeper in the ground. Miss Martian followed suit, moving chunks of dirt and even a few rocks with ease. Soon, with the martian's help, they saw an opening in the ground.

"Hey, Kid Flash, go check out that hole." Miss USA told him. "Just be, ya know, _careful." _She snickered, the area around the hole would give at KF's weight, and he would fall in. Giving everyone a good laugh.

Kid Flash was smarter than he often seemed, of course, it was just that most of his intellect was in science related areas. He knew just enough to realize that going too far wouldn't be safe. "Why don't you do the honors?"

"Aw, you're scared, aren't you?" Miss USA teased. She flew over and lowered herself into the hole. She found Lois Lane tied up in the middle of the room. Miss USA flew up faster than lightening to see the team hadn't moved from their spots. "_What_ on Earth are you all waiting for?" She snapped. "I found her."

"It's kind of far for some of to just jump, you know." Kid Flash said, and for once Artemis agreed with him.

"We can't fly and we're not indestructible," the blonde said. "Why don't you set Lois free and get her back up here?"

"Why'd they just tie her up there?" Superboy asked. He had a point. Why would they just leave her? This was getting sort of fishy, and not in the same way that Aqualad was.

"It's a trap, obviously. Someone knew we were watching over her." Miss USA pointed out. "They probably are using her for bait."

"Well, we weren't all that secretive... Should we all come down anyway?" Irongirl turned to Aqualad at the last part. "It must be more than just an ambush, seeing as they would've attacked you by now."

"Miss Martian, Artemis, keep watch. Have your bow ready. Miss USA, come help us down, if you will." Aqualad said. Irongirl was glad that he took charge, because really, she had no idea what to do...

Miss USA nodded and flew over. "I can take two down at a time." She told them.

"I can take... I dunno, depends on who. Robin's about my size and Kid Flash is scrawny, so if it were those two, as long as they didn't mind going fast, I could probably get them down." Irongirl thought it'd be really awkward to bring any of them down, but she wanted to help, so...

Miss USA nodded. "I guess I'll get Aqualad and Superboy, then." She floated over to them. "Put your arms around my neck." She told them. They did as told and she wrapped her arms around their waist so they wouldn't slip. Miss USA flew them over the dangerous part by the hole and lowered them down slowly. Once they touched the surface of the tunnel, they let go of her and she did the same. All three moved from the hole so the other three could get down here.

Irongirl watched Miss USA go down, briefly wondering why Kid Flash hadn't gotten onto her about the scrawny comment. "I'm not doing the neck thing. This is weird enough as is."

"Agreed." said, surprisingly enough, Robin. Irongirl paused, then hooked her arms and let the boys grab on. They WERE going to do this fast, and she doubted they'd have much trouble holding on. Before she actually began to go down the hole, Irongirl kicked on her boots and rose a bit above it. The boys, who were not only taller than her but hanging off a lower point on her body, swiftly pulled their legs back to avoid being burnt.

"Sorry. Didn't think that one through." Inside her helmet, she was blushing. She was making herself look like such a fool.

"We've done worse." Kid Flash? Seemingly trying to make her feel better? Well, he had seemed like a jerk before, but now maybe he wasn't so bad...

There was a problem, of course, because there was ALWAYS a problem. Irongirl might have overestimated herself, and not only did she drop a bit faster than she'd anticipated, but she was tipped over a bit towards the ginger, leaving the boy in the domino mask a good few inches above him. Luckily, she hit ground (or Kid Flash hit the ground, followed by Robin, and both let go) before any harm could befall them.

"Uh... now what? Do you think they have pressure sensors around Miss Lane or maybe those lasers like in the movies?" She asked, still annoyed by how badly she'd performed moments before. Why couldn't it have been as easy as it was to Miss USA?

"Why don't we test it out?" Miss USA suggested. "Superboy and I aren't able to be affected by the lasers if there are any." She pointed out, taking a step closer to Miss Lane.

"But Lois can be." Robin said, grabbing the girl's shoulder.

"There has got to be an off button somewhere, though. Besides, there might not even be lasers. We'll test it, then decide what to do from there." She said, shaking herself from Robin's grip.

"Only an idiot would leave the off button where we could get to it." Kid Flash said. He thought it was obvious, really.

"Who said it was that easy?" Miss USA retorted. "It's not like we're so babyish that we can't go and look for something. And like I said before, _there may not even be lasers or something that could seriously harm Miss Lane_."

"We might not have TIME to look for anything. And who cares, there's gotta be something there, and we shouldn't risk it yet. We need to get a plan together before we try anything. Sure, there might not be any lasers, but if there are and she gets killed what are you gonna do?" he said angrily. _Jeeze,_ he thought, _I know she's a newbie but she needs to get her act together._

Miss USA crossed her arms. "Then what's your plan, smart one? It might be better to actually _figure out_ what we need to get around, first, so we could formulate something for it."

"I..." Dang. He had nothing.

"Truthfully, I was talking more about those lasers that don't actually hurt you but trip an alarm, but yeah... Oh!... wait, never mind... I dunno. You think you'd be fast enough to just move her over here in time?" Irongirl tried her best, but even then, she had a feeling that Kid Flash wasn't nearly as fast (or coordinated) as his mentor, and it probably wouldn't be worth the risk.

Miss USA sighed. "Like I said before, can we atleast try to find _what_ we've got to work around before we try to make a plan?" She snapped, a bit annoyed.

Irongirl shrank back a bit. She was trying to help, but for all they knew, time was running short...

"See anything, Supey?" Robin asked, and Irongirl turned her attention to Superman's carbon copy.

"Nothing that really stands out. Anything that's here is hidden pretty well. I don't hear anything either, though, so that's good." Irongirl didn't understand why that was good, but then she realized that he could hear if someone was coming their way... or if there were any electronics or even a bomb nearby.

Aqualad sighed. "Miss USA, just use your telepathy to untie Miss Lane. Or ungag her, at least. If she gives him permission, Kid Flash you can move her. She could probably tell us what they have set up."

Miss USA nodded and focused her mind on the knots. Once they were undone, she undid the gag so Miss Lane could speak to the team.

Lois Lane took a deep breath and looked at the squad. "That is what you call protecting me?" She sounded slightly annoyed but relieved they had finally found her. "Maybe if you two," She looked at Kid Flash and Miss USA, "hadn't been bickering so much, you would've saved a lot of time." Miss Lane took another deep breath. "Irongirl was right, there _are_ lasers that set an alarm if you touch them-"

"Yes!" Irongirl hissed, quickly pumping her fist and earning several glares. "...sorry..." she muttered, stepping back a bit.

"As I was saying," Lois Lane went on, "if Kid Flash were to get me and run out, he would of course trigger the alarms and set a swarm of robot hornets after us all." She finished.

"If we've got another person to bring up, I think Miss Martian should come down and get her." Miss USA suggested, getting a nod from Aqualad.

Miss USA flew her head right above the hole to where Artemis and Miss M were standing. "Miss Martian- We need help bringing Miss Lane up." She explained, flying back down so Miss Martian could come down.

"Ready, KF?" Aqualad asked him and the speedster gave him a quick nod before running off to get Miss Lane. Once he was within 10 feet of her, the alarms started. Kid Flash scooped her up and ran back as the hornets started coming. Miss USA had already lifted up Superboy and Aqualad. Miss Martian took Miss Lane and lifted her up. Kid Flash practically jumped on Irongirl to get back up, and, reluctantly, she flew them towards the opening in the same manner that Miss USA had to Superboy and Aqualad.

As Miss USA turned around, the swarm of robot hornets was upon them. She didn't see what the rest of her teammates were doing, but she was trying to use her telekenesis to keep the hornets from getting to close to her and her teammates. While Miss USA was doing that, Aqualad had used his eel tatroos and was slashing every hornet he could.

Irongirl had, at that point, positioned herself near Lois to try her best to defend the woman. Spreading her feet to try and steady herself, she stretching out her right arm and held it still with the left, releasing small, concentrated blasts from her palms and taking out (or at least stunning) a few of the robotic insects.

Before Robin took out the insects, he snatched one out of the air. The Boy Wonder couldn't help it, just like the robot monkeys they've battled before he wanted to study this, too. At least he could figure out who made them. His best friend zipped around in front of him, running straight through the hornets to destroy them instead of actually hitting them. Meanwhile, Artemis was taking out hornets with her bow and arrow. She was running low quickly, and it didn't help that she wasn't able to destroy to many with only one arrow. Superboy, somehow, had the most effective method: smashing right through them. He just hit them as the flew, barely even making an effort yet shattering tons of them. A few did manage to sting him, but he hadn't noticed, it seemed. Each one that he touched was completely destroyed, and although this made it impossible to track them or anything, it got them away from the team...

Or so they thought. Just when the cloud of robotic bugs seemed to be thinning out, even more emerged from the gaping hole in the ground. Great. Just great. All of the teens were running low on energy, so Robin decided he should use a smoke bomb. He threw four towards the direction of the hornets, and told the team to run. Kid Flash scooped up Miss Lane and they all ran in the opposite direction of the bomb.

It didn't take long for them to regroup around Lois's car. Kid Flash gently let her down and leaned against the vehicle, lightly panting. Lois considered making him get off, but considering what had happened that day... yeah, he deserved it.

"So, do we call the League now?" Irongirl asked. Aqualad shook his head.

"We'll be going back and reporting to them soon enough." the leader replied. Leader. It was weird to have a leader instead of just a mentor.

"Wait, you're going back? I never got my story!" Lois was already getting ready to go back to the hole.

Miss USA looked at her. "No offense intended, Miss Lane, but I think this is a job for the police, not a newspaper reporter." The woman glared at her, but she nodded.

"Fine. I'll go back, then. I'll just wait until Superman is around." Yep. Superman was easier to deal with than these crazy kids.

* * *

><p>"They have two more now."<p>

"Yes. We noticed."

"Luthor?"

"The Batman's brat brought one of the hornets with him. We have another way to get into their ranks, now. It's a shame, too, I thought it'd be a bit more challenging..."

**A/N: So, what did ya think? Please Review!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Irongirl's A/N: Hi, I'm the other writer... I guess I could use Irongirl as a name here, because she's a total self insert, and either a Mary Sue or her character is very flat, but hey, this is only the second chapter. I'll refer to my partner, who is currently Red Arrow 123 but likes to change her name as Miss USA, because, well, obviously, if Irongirl is mine Miss USA is hers. First of all, do not believe her when she says I did more of this or whatever. We both came up with ideas and wrote and all that. Second, I will take credit for introducing her to Young Justice. I will also say that I find it HILARIOUS how much she loves it now. I don't even know why, but... She's more the type to like horses than guys in tights. Actually, that sounded a bit off, but that's my inner editor speaking... Thirdly... I dunno, I just wanted a third point. Anyway, yeah. This is all for fun and it's pretty cool. And if you're actually reading all this, would you mind reviewing and telling us what you think or something? I'm desperate for feedback. Even if it's to tell us about a spelling/grammar mistake, I'd love to hear what you have to say. Because spelling and grammar are both important, as well, and although I'd love to be able to check all of this and get it analyzed and make it PERFECT, we're often too excited to go through our work, and so we just run it through a spell check and fix a few things there. I know that this is getting way too long and I really should shut up, but I just wanted to add... you have no idea how fun it is to write a jealous teenage girl. I sort of wish I'd written more, and, in fact, you can expect more of that in the future. XD Okay, okay, I'm done, go read the story.**

**Disclaimer: Oh, yeah, and this way "Miss USA" doesn't have to take care of it... We don't own anything. Seriously. We're a bunch of kids. We don't own anything except for... Well, technically, I don't know what we own. But I guess we have the rights to the story itself and Miss USA and Irongirl's (the characters, of course) backgrounds/personalities/not-so-witty comments.**

**Miss USA's/Red Arrow 123's A/N: Ok, well, FIRST OFF I would like to say that SHE IS LYING! That crazy girl that wrote all of that^? Yeah, she did more of this. It would be awful if she wasn't here co-writing it with me(I bet we'll be fighting over that for a longgg time...). And, well, it is pretty funny how obsessed I am with YJ... Ah, well. I really want to keep you for longer (JK) but I'm letting you go on to the story... If not, eat an Emerson waffle. It'll tell you to read the story.  
><strong>

* * *

><p><strong>Mount Justice<strong>

**September 18th, 12:00 EDT**

The members of the Young Justice team were lounging around the Justice Cave, just soaking up their day off. Robin was typing away furiously on his laptop, Superboy was staring at the blank TV, KF was flirting shamelessly with Megan, Aqualad was gone to Atlantis for the day, and Artemis was nowhere to be seen. Irongirl was just sitting there awkwardly, since her friend Miss USA was busy painting her nails a deep Sapphire blue color. "It goes with this time of year's birthstone." She explained earlier. "Not to mention it also matches my outfit!"

"_Recognized, Artemis. B07_." They all turned to see Artemis walk in.

"What?" She asked as they stared at her. The archer placed her hands on her hips and shot glares at certain members of the team.

She brushed past Megan, who was walking into the living room with KF at her heels like a lonesome puppy. They took a seat on the couch and Megan started up a conversation.

"So, Irongirl, Miss USA.." She started off. "Why don't you guys tell us a bit about yourselves? Since we barely know each other."

Miss USA had finished her nails and put away the nail polish, waving her hands to dry them. "Well, I used to compete in beauty pageants..." She said slowly, blowing a bit on her nails..

Kid Flash broke out laughing and so did Robin. "You..were...a...pageant...girl?" The speedster asked between laughs. "No wonder you're horrible in missions! A girl who was in _beauty pageants_ turning into a sidekick!"

"I thought you guys didn't use the word sidekick." Irongirl said. Earlier that day, when she had tried to talk to Robin, she'd referred to him as Batman's sidekick and... it didn't go very well. At all.

"Yeah, well, it works for you guys." Kid Flash said very seriously.

"Wow, thanks." Well, things just kept getting better and better. Was she ever going to be taken seriously, then? Irongirl had already proven herself next to useless... Even if certain boys were annoyed by Miss USA, she'd helped quite a bit on their first mission, and Irongirl had convinced herself that they were ALL annoyed by the her.

Anger bubbled inside of Miss USA. "Excuse me?" She said in a higher pitched voice than normal. Miss USA took a moment to calm herself just a bit before plastering a sickly sweet but fake smile on her face, directed towards KF. "You know, I guess it's better being a sidekick then, huh? Since sidekicks can do _killer _manicures." Miss USA hopped up from her spot that she was sitting on and grabbed her nail polish. "Would you me to demonstrate?" She asked in a completely innocent voice, threatening Kid Flash by dangling the bottle in front of him. "It's no problem, really."

"You wouldn't." Kid Flash said, narrowing his eyes and getting ready to run.

"She would. I know from experience." Irongirl said matter-of-factly.

"What about Robin? He laughed, too!" The boy in the yellow costume slowly stood. Well, it was slow for him, anyway.

"Well, there's a difference between you and bird-brain over there," Miss USA titled her head in Robin's direction, who had suddenly stopped laughing to see what she was talking about, "he's simply hotter than you." With that, Miss USA took out the nail polish brush and took one of the red head's hands, poising the polish right above the pinkie nail.

Several of the teens stared blankly at her until Robin started grinning. "Chicks dig the cape." he said, then he went back to whatever he was doing on his computer.

"Dude! You're not even going to help me?" Kid Flash could've ran off, but this had gotten to the point that it was more of a game to him than anything else. "You know, blue's not really my color."

Miss USA glared at him. "Today, blue is _totally_ your color." She said, starting to paint his nails to match hers.

The boy relaxed a bit, sitting back down. Now that she had started, she would have to finish or else it'd just be too weird. "So, how exactly do I get rid of this? Because seriously, I go to school. I'm not a super awesome hero who's way better looking than Robin ALL the time."

The younger teen laughed. "Sure ok." She rolled her eyes and finished the hand she was working on, moving to the other. "I have some remover here somewhere." The girl mumbled, focusing on the dang pointer finger that she just couldn't paint right. "Ugh!" She said in annoyance.

"You're making a mess. See, it's on my finger! NAIL polish. It's NAIL polish."

"I can't believe you're just letting her do that to you." Artemis said, smirking the whole time.

"She's like a little kid and she said she'd get rid of it." Yep. Of course he had a way to justify it.

Miss USA thumped KF on the back of the end as he complained. "YOU let me do it, so YOU are getting what you can!" She snapped at him. Once finished she dipped the brush back into the bottle and painted two Sapphire-colored dots on his cheeks. "Aw!" She smirked, stepping back to admire her "work". "You know, the blue is really going for you." Miss USA teased.

"Too bad you didn't have green. It would've brought out his eyes." Robin said, not even looking up.

"...seriously? And anyway, I thought you were painting my nails, not my face! That probably isn't very sanitary, either!"

Miss USA shrugged. "Oh well, I guess you won't be 'sanitary'." She didn't really care. "Next time I'll have to bring my collection." Miss USA threatened. She walked over to where she kept her nail polish and dug around. "Ah-ha!" She said, finding the nail polish remover and throwing it at Kid Flash. "Just used cotton pads to rub it off your nails. But don't use it on your face, THAT would be horrible." She paused. "And don't use it up!"

"Oh, and don't smell it. Just... don't." Irongirl said, feeling a bit left out. Of course, Megan and Superboy hadn't said a thing since this started... In fact, Superboy was still staring at the TV. "Does he know how to work that?"

Miss USA's eyes widened. "Please take Irongirl's advice. Do not, under ANY circumstances smell it." And, of course, KF had to defy them by taking a whiff. Miss USA looked over at Irongirl then Superboy. "I really don't know."

"He just does that sometimes. Plus SOMEBODY broke the remote the other day..." Kid Flash was, of course, still sore over that.

"You mean you didn't replace that?" Artemis said. Seriously, you'd think that if none of them did it Black Canary or Red Tornado would take care of it...

"We don't mind." said Megan. "We'll probably pick up a new one next time we go to the store. We don't use it THAT much, anyway."

"I do! What am I supposed to do when I'm over here?" There went the speedster again.

"You know, this was used in _ancient_ times, but it's coming back! There's a little thing called _talking to people_, and _socializing_." Miss USA retorted in a sarcastic tone.

"NO. Don't TELL him to talk! It's bad enough as it is!" Artemis faked horror.

The patriot giggled then became 'serious'. "You know, behind that ball of energy, there might be a nice, kind soul that actually cares about people other than himself." She said solemnly. "Or maybe not."

"What? I care about people. That's something you've got seriously wrong. You HAVE to care about people when you're a hero! I save lives all the time!" Miss USA had taken it too far for Kid Flash.

"Yes, well, I believe that's when you're not annoying two specific members of your team." She said.

"If anyone doesn't think about others, it's you. You were ready to just walk up and get that Lane woman killed yesterday." Kid Flash said it as if he was only pointing something out, but Irongirl was beginning to get worried.

"No I wasn't!" Miss USA replied angrily, her temper rising. "I wanted to _test_ to see WHAT exactly would happen if we walked near her!" She felt her face getting redder and redder with anger. "And you guys wanted to form a plan around something we didn't know was going to happen!"

"Because you should consider everything! Everyone and their DOG knows that you need to consider all the possibilities in a situation!" Kid Flash stood up, now.

"Uh... so. Irongirl. Did you actually help build your suit?" Robin said, trying to stay out of it and maybe make the others calm down. It didn't work.

Miss USA stood up, nose-to-nose with KF (She was thankful for being so tall, now). "And you should make, what, a billion different plans to match a billion possibilities! We didn't have time for that! We needed to see WHAT exactly we had to work around and THEN work around it!" She shouted in his face, not really caring what the others thought. "I knew this wouldn't work out." Miss USA stormed out of the room. _Why did Cap make me do this?_ She wondered, wandering to the beach, leaving everyone in the room.

Irongirl slowly stood, moving to the window to watch the other girl. "What now?" she asked gently. She WANTED this team thing to work, and she wanted Miss USA to be on the team with her that way she could keep her from, say, keeping quiet all the time and ruining everything. She wasn't sure who to blame, either. Sure, Kid Flash had been fighting with her, but Miss USA wasn't without fault, either.

"She needs time to cool off, and so do you, Wally." Robin spoke up. He studied his best friend for a moment, who hadn't looked away from where Miss USA had just left moments ago. "If this thing with Marvel is going to work out, we can't have you two fighting all the time."

_Wally? No wonder he's the way he is. His name's even more embarrassing than mine._ Irongirl thought, keeping her eyes on the girl currently walking near the shore.

Meanwhile, outside Miss USA had pulled off her boots and was letting the waves lap over her feet. She walked back to where her boots were once she was done, and slipped them back on. Miss USA started wandering amongst the rocks of Mt. Justice, planning her fight with Captain America to get out of this team.

Inside, Robin decided Miss USA had enough time to cool off, and put away his laptop so he could go out and see her. Wally would cool off quickly on his own, but she... Well, they had very different personalities.

"Guess you're just not feeling the aster yet, right?" He nearly shouted from a bit away. Even the ninja boy couldn't climb through the rocks and reach her THAT fast.

The patriot's head snapped towards where she heard the Boy Wonder's voice and laughed. "Feeling the _what_?" She asked, confused.

"Right, you haven't gotten the explanation. It's pretty simple, really. It's just the opposite of disaster, just like approve is the opposite of disapprove. So aster is something really good while disaster is something really bad. Easy, like I said." he said, making his way to her side.

"Hm." The girl considered this new word. Well, it was new to her vocabulary, anyways. "I guess I'm not, then." She played with the hem of her skirt.

"Well, it's KIND of obvious." he said, glancing down. "How in the world do you guys fight crime in skirts?" That was... sort of random, but he'd been wondering ever since Miss Martian had joined the team.

Miss USA let out a laugh, starting to feel better. "It's skill and a secret that might freak you out a bit." She didn't think any teenage boy would like to know how many uses girls had for cheerleading bloomers.

"So are you saying Irongirl and Artemis don't have that skill?" Either that or they were practical enough to realize that it was just easier to wear some sort of pants than flip around in a skirt.

"Well, considering I haven't seen her in anything other than her armor I can't really say. Plus, she's Ironman's protégé, so I don't really think that people would understand her wearing a skirt like Miss Martian and I while she's fighting crime with a man covered in armor." She chose her words carefully. "And Artemis...I can't really imagine her in a skirt, I guess."

"But she wears that top, and that's just as illogical, when you think about it. The only possibly positive effect of that thing is that KF likes it."

Miss USA actually felt her harsh mood from before melt away as she joined on in with Robin's laughter, which was actually more of a cackle. But a cute cackle. "Kid Flash likes any flattering feature on a girl."

"Yep. It's just the way he is. By the way, I hope you're not too mad about what happened the first day. He probably thinks you should take it as a compliment. But anyway, he DOES regret it. He knows what is and isn't appropriate."

"Not really. I guess I was mad at first but it sort of wore off. I don't hold grudges like that for more than a day." She explained to Robin.

"And... now you're mad about what just happened?" Robin asked. He should've thought before he said that, because now he was afraid that he might've started it up all over again.

Miss USA sighed and flew up on a rock, hugging her knees to her chest. _He won't get it_, she thought. No one would understand how she felt when she was mad. The teen would blow up, and minutes later forget what it was about but know she should be mad at the person and sticks to that.

_Girls are insane._ Robin suddenly decided. One minute she was laughing and messing around with him and the next she was practically depressed. Sure, it was sort of his fault for bringing the fight up, but he didn't think she'd react like THIS! "You okay?"

She sighed. It wasn't his fault her personality is like this. She hopped back down. "Yeah, sorry." Miss USA told him, putting on a fake smile.

"Oookaay... So, do you wanna get back inside? Wally's probably over it by now. He MIGHT apologize. Maybe. Otherwise he just won't mention it."

Miss USA ran her fingers through her hair. "I sure hope he doesn't mention it. Gosh, I hope everyone left to do something or whatever." This was _embarrassing._

"They might not've left, but they probably won't mention it. If anything, they'll be more concerned about the fact that we were alone the whole time." The boy frowned. "Wally thinks he has to preserve my innocence, which means that he has to keep me away from girls. Thing is, with some of the stuff I've seen working with Batman..."

"Please, spare me the details." She joked. "And, how, exactly does Wally keep you away from girls when currently that's half the team?" The girl laughed.

"Oh, come on, you know what I mean." He said with a fake scowl, making his way towards the entrance to the cave.

Miss USA flew up and landed next to him. "I hope he doesn't bring anything up..." She said with a fake groan.

"He WON'T. Trust me, I've known him since he became Kid Flash, and he isn't THAT insensitive."

"No, not about that. About what you said before."

"What? Oh. Well it'd only be KF. I doubt any of the others would try anything because, you know, I've got mad skills." The mad skills part was a joke... sort of. He WAS pretty good, seeing as he started working with Batman when he was, what, nine? But still, he figured that the team would be more likely to keep quiet to be polite than because they were afraid of him.

"Of course." She rolled her eyes behind the mask, although she was smiling.

* * *

><p><strong>Poseidonis<strong>

**September 18th, 12:41 EDT**

"Kaldur!" Tula waved frantically at him, Garth by her side. Obviously, they were still together. Aqualad had to admit, he was still a bit jealous, but Garth was his best friend, as was Tula.

"Tula, Garth!" There was one of those awkward silences. This was going to be a bit... weird. He swam over to them and gave Tula a hug and Garth the half-hug meant for close guy friends. "How have you been? It's been how long since we've last met?" Despite the green monster growing inside of Kaldur, he truly missed his friends.

"Not even a month, but we truthfully weren't expecting you to come back so soon. We figured you'd be busy on land." Garth said, slipping Tula's hand into his, which only made Kaldur's heart ache a bit more. They weren't doing this on purpose, but still... it hurt a bit.

"We were given a day off from training and missions. I wanted to come and see my friends, and to find how the Queen is doing." Kaldur replied, walking with them...

* * *

><p><strong>Mount Justice<strong>

**September 18th, 12:59 EDT**

Irongirl watched Robin and Miss USA come, with those big grins and... ugh. She'd tried to stop watching when Robin went out there, but that was a bit hard, too. She had to admit... she was jealous. And that was HARD to admit. She liked to think of herself as... better than that? Maybe? Above silly little things like getting upset over what other people did... but, obviously, she wasn't. She had only just begun to think about the romantic implications, and it may have made her a bit sick to her stomach. At first, she was just a bit mad that Miss USA was friends with the boy that she'd been admiring since he was first introduced to the world. Robin, the Boy Wonder. He worked with BATMAN, for crying out loud! That alone made him more awesome than... than... Oh, something. Then she started to see his personality, and it just kept getting better and better. He was technically normal, but it was obvious (especially when she started working with him) that he was a genius. She had already admired him before, but in the past couple of days... Thinking that Miss USA was already friends with him while she was too much of a chicken to have a decent conversation with him got under her skin a bit, but her friend had always been more outgoing.

Then she thought about the way they were acting, and the way that Miss USA made it clear that she found the boy attractive. That was when she realized that _maybe_ she liked him a little bit, as well. Not for the same reasons, but surely her reasons were better? It was better to like someone because of their achievements and a bit of their personality than mostly their looks, right? Miss USA just liked him because he was really, really ripped for his age, right? And Irongirl was quickly deciding that she liked him for pretty much everything else. Even his VOICE was being added to the list. Was it weird? Maybe, but she WAS a teenager...

Wally jumped up from his spot on the couch when Robin and Miss USA walked in. "I don't know if I should congratulate you or tell you to stay away from her." He said directly to Robin.

"Nothing happened, Wally!" They both said in unison.

"Suuuure." He rolled his eyes. "Then why were you both out there so long, huh?" The red head crossed his arms, showing off the blue nail polish.

"You didn't get rid of that?" Robin said, gesturing to his friend's hands and effectively changing the subject.

Kid Flash looked at his nails. "I didn't have time. Now, what exactly were you guys doing out there?"

Okay, maybe it didn't work how he planned...

"You're saying that you didn't have time? REALLY? Think about that for a minute." Artemis cut in.

"Hey, it's not my fault you were annoying me the whole time!" He protested.

"You've got super speed! And you can't multitask? It's not that hard to swipe something over your fingernails and keep going." The blonde stepped forward, grabbing the bottle of nail polish remover from wear it had been left on the couch, barely screwed closed. "You're lucky this didn't get on everything."

"Listen- I'm not a girl! I don't know how to remove it, much less at_ super speed_! If you want it gone so badly, do it yourself!" Wally put his hands out, like he was a king and expected to be treated like royalty in this activity.

"She TOLD you how to do it, genius!" Artemis unscrewed the bottle, and for a moment it seemed she would actually as Wally said... then she dumped about half the bottle over his hands, screwed the top back on, and tossed it to Miss USA.

"Hey! This cost $10 bucks!" Miss USA said, a bit angry. She was only allowed to get stuff like this every other month!

"Who cares about that?" Wally glared at Artemis. "You just dumped that all on me!" Even though he was mad, he grabbed a cotton pad and started to rub the polish off of him.

"Thanks for stating the obvious."

Wally rolled his eyes as he got the last bit off. "You're so annoying!" He walked off to get the polish off his cheeks.

"Look who's talking." Artemis found it a bit ironic that Wally, of all people, was complaining that ANYONE else was annoying. Then again, she WAS trying to bug him...

"Well, I'm going to see if I can find anything on the hornet I got from the last mission." Robin stated, going over to get his laptop.

"You got one of those things?" Irongirl asked, speaking for the first time since Robin and Miss USA had come in. She'd calmed down a bit, but she wasn't quite over all... that.

Robin turned to the armor-covered girl and nodded. "I snatched one just before I set off the smoke bombs." He held up the plastic bag it was in.

"And you're SURE that thing is dead? It's not gonna attack once you take it out of the bag?" Those things had been freaky. Irongirl wasn't a fan of bugs, and robotic ones were no better.

"Last night I took some time disabling it. Now it's completely harmless." He assured her.

A thought occurred to her. "What's the technology like? It's kind of tiny, so what all did they manage to fit in there?"

"It's pretty advanced stuff, I guess. Seems like it works in a hive mind sort of thing, where all the hornets are connected. As for fitting everything in... I'm more into computers than robotics."

Miss USA got up and walked to the kitchen. "I'm making virgin Pina Coladas, anybody else want one?" She asked, getting out what she needed.

"Uh... what?" Irongirl barely glanced over at her friend. Not that anyone could tell that she looked, but... yeah.

"Oh! Oh! Count me in!" Wally shouted from the bathroom.

Miss USA didn't looked up from mixing the things together to tell Irongirl what was in it. "It's the basic stuff to make a vanilla milkshake, plus coconut cream and cubed pineapples." She poured in the ingredients into the blender.

"Oh, I'd like to try! I can help, too, if you'll teach me!" Megan said, moving quickly into the kitchen. "Superboy, would you like some?" The raven haired teen shrugged, still staring at the TV all this time. Seriously, what was up with that?

"Ah. But what's with the virgin part?" Irongirl turned her head, this time. Did this have to do with anything like Extra Virgin Olive Oil?

"Sure!" Miss USA smiled at Megan's offer for help. "And it's originally mixed with rum, so the virgin part means that there's no alcohol."

"I guess that makes sense." It didn't, really, but Irongirl didn't want to make herself look stupid.

"So, would you like to have some?" Megan asked, pulling out a can of pineapples. "I hope this'll work." Man, their kitchen was insanely well stocked, seeing as only two teenagers and a robot lived there...

"Can't." Was Irongirl's reply, as she quickly directed her attention back to Robin and the hornet.

"Robin, Artemis, do you want a glass?" Miss USA asked, pulling out some glasses.

Artemis looked up and shrugged. "No thanks."

"Why not? There'll be enough, right? I'm counting on KF going for seconds." It was probably a bit surprising to the newest members of the team that said speedster didn't protest from the bathroom, where he was STILL working on getting that dang nail polish off. Robin, on the other hand, and to a point the other members of the team, knew him much better. His excuse was and always would be his sped up metabolism, which was actually a pretty big problem for the boy at times.

"There'll be enough, for sure. I'm making a couple of batches." The patriotic teen replied, grabbing down another glass for Robin. She brought them over to the blender and poured all of it into two and a half cups. Then she turned to Megan and showed her the amount to put in for each drink. Miss USA looked and saw KF wasn't done with the nail polish yet. "Kid Flash!" She called. "WHEN on Earth are you going to get that stuff off! It's not hard!"

"Keep your pants on! Meg-a-licious, when'd you guys get fancy soaps?"

"FYI, I don't wear _pants_. I wear a _skirt_."

"I was reading up about Earth cultures! Most people have them for their guests." M'gann answered, finishing the second batch of Pina Colada's.

"Well keep THAT on. Jeeze. It's an expression, anyway." Wally walked out of the bathroom and zoomed to the kitchen, leaning on the counter next to his Martian crush. "You must have really great taste to pick out those soaps. Lavender, right?" Robin barely contained a giggle. His friend was more than just pitiful at this point.

"Actually, it's both lavender and French vanilla." The Martian told him, handing him his glass.

The boy quickly downed the contents of his cup, leaving behind a Pina Colada mustache.

At the same time, Miss USA and Megan let out a giggle at the sight of Wally. "Um, here." Megan smiled and handed Wally a napkin.

Truthfully, he probably would've wiped it with his sleeve if she hadn't done that. "Thanks." he said, quickly wiping himself off.

"Wow. No cheesy pick up line? I'm impressed." Artemis said, making her way from the living room to the hallway.

"Go away!"

"In case you haven't noticed, I am." How did she NOT blow up at him every couple of minutes?

"You sure you don't want any, Artemis?" Miss USA asked, hoping to distract them from their small fight. She brought Robin his and went back into the kitchen to take a sip of her own drink.

"Err... no. I'm gonna go do... whatever." Artemis said. She really seemed to want to get away...

Megan picked up her glass and took a sip. "Mhm!" She said, drinking more. "This is delicious!"

Robin shoved the hornet back into his bag and moved it out of site. "I give up, at least for now. Obviously whoever made these was smart enough to not to store any information other than a couple targets to lock onto here. Basically anyone one of the hornets got a decent picture of." He sipped his drink and messed around on his computer a moment longer. "Hey, Wally, take a look at this." he said, turning his computer as the other teen zipped up so that only the two of them could see the screen.

"What's it this time?" He asked, scanning the page that was up on the Boy Wonder's computer.

"Just look." Everyone was watching the two boys now.

"Can I see?" asked Superboy, who had long since moved to the kitchen.

Robin glanced up as Kid Flash read over his shoulder. "Sorry, Supey, not this one, at least not yet." The physically older boy didn't seem to react, oddly enough.

"I don't think that's right. I mean, just... come on." Kid Flash said loudly. Robin clicked something else. "That... okay, I believe that, but I'd bet you-"

"Will you please shut UP?" Robin said.

Wally kept whispering to Robin, who replied from time to time and seemed to show him more of whatever they were looking at.

"What are you guys looking at?" Miss USA asked, walking over to the couch.

Robin was prepared, quickly pulling up some sort of fact website.

Miss USA scrunched up her nose. "You guys are looking up facts when you're _not_ in school?"

"Oh, I do that sometimes!" Irongirl said, then, of course, she started to think about that...

"They're not just facts. They're the funny and the awesome kinds." Wally said, glancing over the page. "Look, a sneeze comes out of your mouth at a thousand miles per hour. And that's a NORMAL sneeze. Just imagine one of my sneezes or the Flash's sneezes."

"OK, then. Like I really want to know about your sneezes and a sneeze in general..." She said slowly, pulling out her iPad to play Angry Birds.

"What the- where were you HIDING that thing!" Irongirl said, looking around. First Robin pulled that hornet out of no where, now this?

"Behind the chair. I didn't want to carry it around everywhere, so..." Miss USA shrugged.

"...you people scare me." Irongirl said, shaking her head.

"That's what we were made for!" The other girl replied.

"So, about your secret identities. The other day you said you didn't wanna tell, right?" Wally said, directing his question at Irongirl.

"Uh... yeah... sorry..."

"Oh, it's not a big deal, just wondering. You know that I'm Wally now. Wally West."

"Aww! Like Wall-E in that Disney movie! He was SO cute!" Miss USA gushed.

"You just called Wally cute." Superboy said flatly.

"Technically, she called Wall-E cute. She just so happens to be going crazy over the fact that their names sounds a like." Robin said, smirking.

"I am not going crazy!" The girl protested. "And SHE has a NAME!"

"And that is?" Robin asked. Knowing him, he had probably planned this from the very beginning...

"You know, I came way before that stupid robot!" Wally said angrily.

"You know my name. Miss USA." She said, backtracking a bit.

"We both know that's not what I'm talking about, but okay." Robin said, turning back to his computer for a moment while Kid Flash calmed down over the whole Wall-E thing.

"You'll find out eventually, I guess. Besides, I don't really want to tell you guys after only knowing you for two days..."

"You do realize we're the good guys, right? Because we're the good guys." KF quickly added.

Megan glared at him. "It's not a big deal. Robin doesn't let anyone know who he is either."

"Hey, that's not fair, I'm under direct orders from the Bat!"

"And who said I wasn't under direct orders from the Cap!" She replied evenly.

"Does it matter? You both said you don't WANT to, which implies that you could." The boy wonder quickly pointed out. Yep. He definitely knew what he was doing.

"So what if I could? Maybe it would be fun if you guys tried to guess it. What fun would it be if we just came right out and told you guys?" Miss USA shot back.

"Oh, you'll never figure out my name! Wait, I jinxed it... but I've got it better than all of you, really. You can't see any of me and I've even got this... thing built in to disguise my voice! It's so coooool..." Irongirl said proudly. "Anyone else thinking of Rumpelstiltskin?"

"Thinking of _what_?" Half the team looked confused.

"Oh, I know! It's one of those fairy tales, right?" Megan said happily. "I studied a few of those. That one's about a girl who has to spin straw into gold for the king or else she'll be executed, and a little man comes and does it for her. The catch is that she has to give him her first born child. Then she marries the prince and they have a baby and he comes to take it, but she begs him and they make a deal: if she can guess his name in three days then she can keep her baby. Then I don't remember exactly how, but she finds out his name is Rumpelstiltskin and he gets so mad that he stomps his foot and makes a big hole in the ground. Then he falls in and no one ever sees him again. Am I right?"

"So if Robin or Kid Flash gets our names right we're supposed to stomp a big hole in the ground and never be seen again? Hmm. Moral of the story: Don't guess names." Miss USA shot the two best friends a look.

"Well I don't think I'd mind that..." Kid Flash mumbled, glaring right back at her.

"You're just _begging_ for another manicure, aren't you?"

"So..." Irongirl began, hoping to stop Wally and her patriotic friend from fighting again. "You're Wally and she's Megan, but what about the rest of you? You only said that Robin kept his secret identity secret."

"Conner is Superboy's Earth name! Conner Kent, and my full name's Megan Morse. Conner just got his full name when we started going to school! And Aqualad is Kaldur, and Artemis... Well, guess we don't know her secret identity, but Artemis is pretty much a normal name anyway so it works." The green girl said, happy to avoid conflict between what she considered her friends.

"I guess I could tell you _part_ of my name..." Miss USA began. "My middle name is Marie."

Wally opened his mouth, then closed it again. "Marie is... I mean, like, I dunno... every other girl is given Marie is a middle name!"

"It's common. So what? My mom was at a loss for words and named me after my grandma, I guess."

Yet again, the boy in the domino mask smirked. "So you're saying your grandmother's name was Marie or some other variation of Mary?"

"Nope, I'm saying her nickname was." She replied.

"Still, that just means she had something similar in her name, because really, who'd call a girl Marie for no reason?" Robin said.

"True." Miss USA shrugged. "But go off, do whatever you think you can do to find my name."

"Remember, people use Dick and Bob for boys named Richard and William." Wally said, and Robin glared at him.

"I had a pet fly named Bob!" She chirped. "He only lasted a couple minutes, though. I swatted him. Poor thing, wouldn't give up living!"

"...Irongirl was right, you ARE scary." the ginger boy said as Robin shut down his computer.

Miss USA shrugged. "You get used to it." And flew out, shutting off Angry Birds and stashing her iPad behind the chair again.

"Okay, Irongirl. I'm gonna guess a bit at your name. I'm gonna say it starts with a consonant and ends with a vowel, right?" Wally said, completely ignoring the lack of Miss USA. However, Robin walked over towards where she'd flown.

"We're talking about my first name, right?" Wally nodded. "Yeah. But there are TONS of names like that."

"Too bad she left," Robin said, returning to his spot on the couch. "We could've questioned her next."

* * *

><p>Miss USA flew to the training center, where she found Artemis practicing her archery. She was mumbling something about red and green arrows. What? Miss USA knew that Artemis was the protégé of Green Arrow, so that's what she must've been talking about with the green arrows. But a red arrow? What did that have to do about it? Where they throwing a Christmas party or something? The patriot walked around and flew to the ceiling, with her back facing the ground. She didn't really know <em>what<em> she was going to do, since the archer hadn't noticed her yet. So, finally, Miss USA shot down to the ground and landed on her feet. "Hey." She called to Artemis, who sharply turned in surprise at the other teen. "Want to practice hand-to-hand combat?"

The older of the two folded her bow. "...fine. Don't go whining to the others that I'm not a good enough match, though. I'm not a meta."

"I guarantee you're probably better than me when it comes down to it. I'm horrible without using my powers." She replied, pulling up her gloves which had come just a bit loose.

"But of course. You metas don't HAVE to learn how to fight, you just punch stuff and you're done. The problem will be not using your powers. You can't exactly turn them off, so you're going to have to hold yourself back." The blonde gathered her arrows and all around cleared the floor. "That being said, limit yourself to your super strength and all that. No flying, no telekinesis. We'll just try not to hurt each other. Otherwise I'd have you at an unfair advantage because of how distracted you'd be."

Miss USA rolled her eyes but decided to keep her mouth shut. "Ready?" She asked and Artemis gave the slightest of nods. The patriot held back, waiting for the other to make the first move.

Artemis smirked, waiting a moment before it was clear that Miss USA wanted her to attack first. It would be difficult, but what fun would it be otherwise? Finally, the blonde took off running. Quickly, she formed a plan... well, several plans, each of which depended on different courses of action that the younger girl was likely to take.

Miss USA dodged the blonde and lunged for her. She wasn't thinking straight and was just going with her gut. Some might say that was a horrible idea in actual combat, since she didn't have an exact plan. But the only thing she cared about right then and there was, _What if I beat Artemis? Would the team finally like me? Would I fit in better?_

Artemis swiftly turned, tumbling over Miss USA as the other girl made a grab for her. Before she landed she kicked out her legs, trying to get a shot at the brunette as she went.

It took most of Miss USA's strength to not fly out of the girls reach. She jumped to her feet and went into a default defensive mode against the archer. Miss USA made a mental note to ask Megan to practice with her later, so she could see the extent of her own powers. Before Artemis could defeat her while she was distracted, Miss USA snapped back to reality.

Automatically, Artemis threw a few punches and slid to the ground, swinging her legs around in an attempt to bring her opponent down. The longer this went, the easier to seemed to her as everything fell into place. She was almost like a robot, which, truthfully, scared her a bit.

The brunette jumped at Artemis's attempt to trip her. She veered to the side and lunged yet again at the archer, slamming her into the floor. Miss USA was proud of herself coming this far without using her powers. As she took a look at Artemis, the archer was panting and looked as though she couldn't go any longer. Next to the girl was _Artemis: Fail._

Well, jeeze. She was powerful, obviously. Artemis gasped for breath and, once she was finally able to breathe, glared at the floor. The archer didn't dare speak, knowing that her voice would sound weak. Pushing off of the ground, the blonde dusted herself off a bit. She was tempted to say something along the lines of "that was just a lucky shot", because, well, she was certain that it was, but... "Good job, I guess. Can't wait until you get your butt kicked by Black Canary, though." she said with a smirk.

Miss USA bit her lip and glared at the older teen. "We'll just see about that, won't we?" Before she stalked off, she added one last remark, "Maybe next time I'll be able to use my powers in a fight with you, eh?" And stalked off to where the rest of the group was still hanging out on the couch, trying to figure out Irongirl's real name.

Artemis rolled her eyes and followed. She had to admire Miss USA for her... spunk? Would that be a good word? Who cared? But seriously, if she thought she could beat ANY of the full Justice League members, she was a bit insane.

"And you're another thirteen year old, correct? Born in... Spring? How about spring?" Robin said, and Irongirl nodded. Robin glanced at Kid Flash, who didn't noticed because, obviously, he couldn't see his friend's eyes. _This is too easy,_ he thought. _The REAL challenge will be proving Miss USA's identity to Wally._

"What time is it?" Irongirl asked suddenly.

"About 3, I'm guessing." Miss USA floated in and perched on the armrest of the couch.

"Oh... I should probably get going. It'll take me a while to get home and my parents... will expect me home at a decent time, you know?" She said, rushing towards the door. The others didn't know that her parents were in the dark about all this, and she didn't mind keeping it that way. "See you guys later."

"Wha-Bye?" The brunette was a bit confused by her rushed disappearance however the others look like it was natural. She guessed being protégés of some of the most powerful heroes didn't let things like this phase you.

* * *

><p><strong>Miss USARed Arrow 123's A/N: Sorry Kaldur had such a short part... He's hard to write! And the fight, too. XD And I have to admit, I nearly ripped Irongirl's head off when she informed me that the Irongirl character was going to have a crush on Robin...even if a small one...**


	3. Chapter 3

**Red Arrow 123's A/N: Hey everyone! So, first off, I'M SORRY! It's been over TWO MONTHS since we've last updated and it's been killing me... I've gotten grounded from my computer for about a month's total so that's half the reason, the other is that both Irongirl and I have started school and have been extremely busy. Plus, this chapter was sort of hard to write... But, hopefully, we will get the next one out this week sometime as an "I'm sorry."**

**Oh, and one other thing:**

**DO NOT DRINK MISS USA'S DRINK. JUST PLEASE DO NOT. IT HAS NOT BEEN TESTED AND PROVEN TO BE HEALTHY, TASTY, OR EVEN NON-TOXIC. WE HOPE YOU TAKE THIS WARNING SOMEWHAT SERIOUSLY...**

**Oh, and Irongirl is seriously awesome. Capt****ai****n America poster for my birthday yesterday!**

**Irongirl's A/N: Hello? I'm seriously not sure whether Red Arrow's time is accurate, but it's been a while. School is annoying and we are lazy children. XD I dunno that we'll get the next chapter out in a week as she predicts, seeing as we have some projects (for school) coming up, but we'll definitely try.**

**I'm going to just agree that I am really, really awesome this time. Because that poster was close to five bucks. Seriously, woman, you are lucky that you're my be****s****t friend. XD**

**Oh, yeah, and new Young Justice episode, everybody! So. AWESOME!**

* * *

><p><strong>Mount Justice<strong>

**September 25th, 3:57 EDT**

Irongirl had long since decided that she loved being on this team. Normally, she couldn't stand being with other people for so long, but all of them were just... it was weird. She even liked Conner, and he rarely talked to anyone, let alone her.

So it was really no surprise that she was here after school instead of working on one of her many projects with Mr. Sta- Tony. He told her to call him Tony. She'd get it done... eventually.

Miss USA walked in with a backpack on her shoulder. "Seriously. My teachers suck. Homework over the weekend?" She groaned and sat by Irongirl, letting her bag fall to the ground with a thump. "Do you have homework?" The brunette asked, running her fingers through her hair as she eyed Robin and Kid Flash suspiciously, since they were staring Irongirl and herself, whispering. Again.

"I finished most of mine at school." Irongirl said a bit quietly. In a way she wanted to rub in the fact that she only had a tiny bit to go home and deal with, but then... ugh.

"I finished ALL of mine at school." Robin said, immediately looking smug.

"...I'll get to it later. I did some of it school, but seriously, I was busy..." Of COURSE Wally was procrastinating. He could be done in half the time it took most people thanks to his super speed, but still he always waited until the very last minute.

"I'm going to do half now, then pull an all-nighter Saturday." The patriot stretched and yawned. "I seriously think that all the teachers in this world are whack."

"What sort of stuff are they assigning right now?" Robin asked, moving next to her and (hopefully) obviously intending on helping.

"Well in math we're working on linear equations, which I really don't understand, and in World History I have to type up a 10-page report on the history of the Industrial Revolution. Although it will really be just a 5-page report with big periods." Miss USA shrugged at the trick she had learned from an eighth grader when she was younger and was just introduced into reports.

"That's not much. I mean, the paper, yeah, but you'll do worse when you get into high school. And college. Oh my gosh, how am I going to survive college?" the red head said, quickly standing up and running his hands through his hair.

"Did you just say 'oh my gosh'?" The brunette asked. "I have never heard a guy say that before. Well, once I did but he was... messed up. No offense to you, Wally." Miss USA rushed on to say. She didn't mean the last part offensively, since she actually wanted to NOT get into an argument with KF every single second.

Wally didn't notice, luckily.

"Which ones are linear equations? Slope 'n' stuff, right?" Irongirl said. She never COULD keep the names straight... Robin nodded.

"They're not that hard, really. You probably just have a bad teacher." the boy said. "Can I have a look at what they gave you?"

Miss USA nodded and handed over the textbook with the problems circled (You think she'd be able to remember them all).

"Okay, so the first one I'm seeing that you've circled is 'put the following equation in slope-intercept form and graph it, yadda yadda, a story that you don't actually need to hear... 4y = 2x + 2.'" The dark haired boy instantly knew the answer (although he didn't have the exact graph, of course, but he basically knew what it would look like), and so he sat there cursing those silly stories that text books felt the need to include as an explanation for the problem. Only word problems needed those!

The brunette nodded yet again. "Ok, so the answer would be y = 1/2x + 1/2, right?" She hoped that she had gotten it right, but math was her worst subject. Miss USA would be lucky if she got 2 + 2 right! Well, she wasn't that dumb, but pretty darn close.

"No. That would be half the answer. You've gotta graph it, remember?" Robin said, pointing to the instructions.

Miss USA groaned. "Now THIS is the part I really hate. I have nada clue how to graph it, since my teacher didn't bother to answer my questions about it."

"What kind of teacher is that?" Irongirl said. She was used to relatively small schools where the teachers had plenty of time to answer questions and even get one on one time with any students that needed it.

"It's easy. Just draw a quick graph, and plot the y-intercept, which in this case would be 1/2. Positive, of course. Then you keep going with rise-over-run. All you need is two more points and you can draw your line and you're done."

The girl picked up her pencil and quickly sketched a small graph in her notebook. She plotted the 1/2 y-intercept and did the rise-over-run, ending up at point (2, 1 1/2).

Robin watched the girl add another point and draw a quick line. "There. NOW you've got the answer."

"Finally. I hate math." Miss USA grumbled, moving on to the next problem. Within the next half hour, with Robin's help, she had finally finished all of her math homework. Shutting her book with an exasperated sigh, she finally spoke, "I wish that we could have an option over taking Math as a subject!"

"Some of the stuff isn't needed for most jobs, but you HAVE to know a good deal of it. All I'm saying is you're gonna have to do your own taxes some day..." Wally had calmed down and was looking over Miss USA's shoulder at the book. He thought she had taken way too long, and with his sped up brain he had finished several more questions... which he now realized weren't even part of her homework.

Miss USA shoved her notebook into her backpack quickly, since it had her real name inside the front cover, and shut the textbook when she noticed Wally was looking over her shoulder. She jumped a bit, "Gosh, I didn't even notice you!" The girl put the textbook in her bag. "I don't even want to think about taxes. Too far away, and, well, in my opinion- too hard for my seventh grade mind to comprehend." She joked.

Wally grabbed the bag, zooming to the other end of the room in a blur. "So, Jeanette..." he pulled out a textbook and frowned. "Laura. Dang it Rob."

"Ha! You owe me five bucks!"

"But it's not like you actually need the money! And maybe she borrowed this text book! We'll have to check another!" Still, the ginger was reluctant to take anything out of his bag.

Miss USA flew over to Wally and picked him up two feet off the ground by his collar. "Put down the bag." She growled, a bit furious at him. Enough to have her make rash decisions.

The bag hit the floor with a thud, but Robin, being the little ninja he was, had snuck up and swept it away, pulling out another textbook. "I win."

"What?" Wally forgot all about his... situation. "I don't believe you! You could be lying, and there's no way that she's gonna just let me look!"

'She' laughed. "You know me too well." And let him down to the floor, but the brunette didn't release her grip. "Same with you, bird boy." She snatched her textbook and put it in her bag, slinging it over her shoulder. "I suggest you both sleep with one eye open, eh?" The girl winked and stalked back to the couch, pulling out her iPad, she was nowhere near being done with her anger.

"I've ALWAYS got my utility belt, and there's no way you could get to me." Robin said smugly.

Irongirl had yet to move. "...you guys actually went through with it?" Well, of course they had... but still. There went any extra confidence she had when she wore her armor. "You know my last name too, right?"

"Oh yeah. Norwood. Jeanette Lesia Norwood. And we know where you live. Not really, but anyway... it wouldn't be hard to find out." Robin still wasn't bothered by all of this, although his speedster friend was definitely shaken.

"Ugh. You guys...you act like... like...I don't know!" Miss USA..._Laura..._couldn't place her feelings into words. "I can't believe you dug into our lives like that. It's just not right."

"Hey, you guys never actually objected! We took it as a challenge!" Wally said angrily. What was wrong with it? Neither of them actually told them not to do it...

"He's got a point..." Irongirl... or Jeanette, whichever one she was with them now, said quietly.

"It's still stalker-ish!" She was actually quite calm, if you knew her past. If you _didn't_...then that's another story. Trying to direct her anger from her teammates to the pigs in Angry Birds, she ended up gripping the iPad so tightly, where her hand was placed was now crumpled just like the remote Superboy crushed last week. Miss USA growled and got up, disposing of it. Since the same thing happened often, she got the spare iPad she had in her black and white striped Pac Sun bag that also had blue seahorses on it. It was fairly big and held a lot of things other than her schoolwork, which was handy and annoying sometimes. It was annoying because it had a lot of room it in, she couldn't find a lot of her things.

Robin finally stopped seeming so proud. "Look, we seriously hadn't been trying to cause any trouble. When we were talking about it the other day you guys were acting like it was no big deal, so..." Their explanations were getting repetitive, but that was their only excuse.

"The other day you came right out and asked us, and we told you that we _would_ eventually tell you guys. If it really bugged you that much not knowing, I would've told you. You didn't have to be all sneak and ninja-y to find out. It's not a big deal, like you said." _Laura_ was calming down quite a bit and the crushing of her iPad helped her simmer down a lot.

"Well, technically WE didn't object to it... so they're right... but it's you and..." Irongirl mumbled, her speech barely intelligible.

"So Irongirl or Jeanette or whatever she'd like to be called right now is fine with it, right? That just means YOU'RE overreacting. You're just too sensitive, which is typical for a girl really." Wally said, and Robin gave him a great imitation of the Bat-glare.

The patriot flew back over to Wally. "So what if I'm like a typical girl? Maybe I want to live a somewhat normal life and that's just part of it. I don't really care if I AM overreacting. And I don't care that we didn't object to it. If I somehow found out that you WERE going to snoop into my life, sure as heck I would object. But of course since I didn't know you two were, I couldn't object so that's no excuse." She wanted to walk out of there right then, but Miss USA knew she couldn't. She could come off as weak or unable to hold her own ground. The girl wanted to prove herself to the team and of what value she could actually be. And then, maybe, just maybe, someone would respect her. For once in her life, and this was something she wanted more than she ever did before.

It was amazing that no one had heard them yelling and come to see what was going on. Jeanette wanted to point out that Miss USA had said something along the lines of 'I won't tell because it would be more fun if you guys guessed', but even if she DID want to get involved, she didn't have the guts. They were all technically her friends, right? And she couldn't go against her friends, could she? She couldn't just choose one side...

"I'm not gonna say that we were wrong, because again, you never told us not to, but I'm willing to apologize." the Boy Wonder said calmly, although, Wally was obviously angry about all this.

Miss USA opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off when the holographic screen popped up, displaying the Dark Knight on it. "Batman to Young Justice."

Immediately, Megan rushed into the room, followed by the other members of the team. None of them were aware of the drama that had just taken place, which was probably a good thing.

The man barely hesitated, as he quickly counted the teenagers and knew that they were all here. "There have been an extraordinary amount of crimes in Happy Harbor as of late, as well as several people, mainly males from twelve to twenty, being reported as missing. One of those people was found assisting a robbery and has been taken into custody, and it's obvious that there's more to this than meets the eye. You will be staked out in Happy Harbor tonight. All you need to do is keep an eye on things. If you see anything, then you are to contact the League_ immediately_." Batman put a lot of emphasis on the word immediately.

Before any of the kids could make a witty remark, Robin's mentor said "Batman out," and the screen disappeared.

"It'll be like a sleep over!" the Martian girl suddenly squealed, making Kid Flash jump. "I'll bake cookies for it!" Wally grinned, Irongirl and Miss USA didn't see a problem with it but didn't get quite as excited, and the others tried to hide their displeasure.

Miss USA really didn't want to be munching on burnt cookies tonight, so she followed Miss M, "Can I help?" She asked her.

"Oh, yes! That way we can have bonding time and everything!" someone sighed, obviously relieved that this wouldn't be quite as disastrous as Megan's previous attempts at baking.

The brunette laughed lightly and was genuinely happy there was atleast one person she wouldn't get angry with every two seconds. "What kind do you plan on making?"

"I don't know, but we could make almost anything! I'll go get my cook book!"

The younger teen smiled and poked around the cabinets, looking to see if there were any chocolate chips, M&M's, or even Andes Mints there.

Megan came back to the kitchen as a few of the others settled into the living room. "What do you want to make?" she asked, flipping to the dessert section.

"Want to try peanut butter cookies with Hershey's kisses on top?" Miss USA asked, looking over Megan's shoulder at the cookbook.

"I don't know... is anyone allergic to peanuts?" Of course, everyone knew that Wally wasn't, and Megan knew that neither she nor Superboy were, and Miss USA couldn't have been, seeing as she requested the peanut butter cookies, but they didn't need to deal with someone swelling up or anything.

Miss USA walked out to the living room and repeated Megan's question, "Anybody allergic to peanuts or anything?" Seeing as the girl had only been here a week, she didn't know for sure about any of the members of Young Justice.

"Kaldur and I are all good." Robin said, barely glancing up from the TV.

"Same." There was Irongirl. The only one left was Artemis... who wasn't in the room. Great.

"I'm not and neither is Artemis." said... Wally?

"Oh really?" Robin was already smirking and, once Superboy understood what he was getting at, he raised his eyebrows.

"Wha-oh! She stole my sandwich! I made it for myself and she took it because she's EVIL!"

"Sure, keep on telling yourself that." said the Boy Wonder.

The brunette rolled her eyes and walked back to the kitchen. "Everybody's fine." She told her, getting out the Hershey's kiss's and bringing them over to the counter, where Megan had most of the things needed for the cookies set up.

"Oh, great!" Megan was practically bouncing. She loved baking, but she knew she wasn't that great... yet. "Would you like to start mixing the cookie dough or is there something else you want to do?" She gestured to a huge bowl. Obviously, she intended on making plenty of cookies. _There might be too many for even Wally to finish!_ she thought happily.

"I'll start on the cookie dough!" Miss USA smiled and went over to the bowl, easily mixing it because of her strength. There was a _lot_ more than what she usually made, but of course they were baking for the whole team, not two people like she normally did.

"...I should probably go finish my homework real quick. I'll be back soon." Irongirl said, taking off towards the door without even saying good-bye. It wasn't just her homework, although that WAS bugging her. She was going to have to come up with a way to get her parents to let her go without making them suspicious or letting Tony know that they didn't know. Already, a plan was forming. Her excuse would have to be related to robotics... and she would need printer paper.

Megan moved across the kitchen, turning on the oven to preheat it. "If this will be like a party, then we're going to need drinks, too, and I don't think we can bring stuff to make them."

Wally gasped. "I can get a big case of Mountain Dew! YES!"

"OR Pepsi Max! If we're on a stake-out, we will need caffeine. It's the highest caffeinated soda! I can NEVER go to sleep after I have it!" The younger girl blurted out.

"YEEEEEESSSSSSS!" Wally started bouncing, until Robin shook his head.

"I thought Flash told you no more of that stuff?"

"Oh, poo." Miss USA bit her lip. "Robin, what's a high caffeinated drink that Flash hasn't banned from Wally yet?"

Robin sat there, stumped. "...off brand stuff? Maybe. Because Flash already said he can't have any of the major brands and a TON of different energy drinks. And Kool-aid. Don't ask, it's actually completely unrelated to being hyper and all."

"Dude! You weren't supposed to tell anyone about the Kool-aid!"

"Trust me, nobody wants to know." The brunette said, semi-serious. She was a bit curious...but then again, it's outta be something completely weird and...nauseating. "So, oh! I got on idea!" She was to anxious to walk, so she flew over to the fridge and opened it, scanning the contents. Once she found what she needed- coconut shreds, milk, and coconut milk, she went to the cabinet where she saw powered sugar. "You all have to trust me on this one. It's _amazing_ and completely energizing without the crash." The girl found the powered sugar and grabbed it, putting it with the other things.

Even Superboy was watching at this point, although Miss Martian was busy carefully placing balls of cookie dough on a tray. "Megan said we couldn't brink stuff to make it, and that probably means it'd be too much trouble to make a bunch of it here and take it with us... why don't we just bring a bunch of bottles of water? Black Canary bought a ton and put them in the closet, and nobody's gotten around to using them." the clone said, speaking more than usual.

Wally looked at the Boy of Steel with his mouth wide open. "Water? When we'll need to stay up? Dude, it's a sleepover," he winked at M'gann, using what she liked to think of it as, "and nobody sleeps at sleepovers! Water would just make us more drowsy! Besides, we could bring a bottle full of...whatever Miss USA's making with us." Despite his doubts about the girl's drink, he thought it might actually be better than having to drink...water. Don't get him wrong, he loved drinking water, but he thought he might drink it a little _too_ much.

Superboy blinked, obviously confused. The G-gnomes hadn't taught him any of this, of course.

"Don't be bothered by the name, Superboy, it's just there to trick parents. You're not ALLOWED to sleep at sleepovers. If you do, everyone else will pull pranks on you like drawing on your face, and all girl sleepovers have it WAY worse." Robin said. He actually hadn't had any sleepovers other than a few with Wally and Roy, but between the three of them it was like having nine kids at the manor.

Miss USA grinned an evil smile. "Oh yes, _nobody_ wants to go to sleep with _moi_ around." Her eye darted to the bag in the living room, which not only contained schoolwork, but her make-up bag, too. Robin was right- all girl sleepovers were worse. But, girl and guy sleepovers were the most dangerous thing you could have, especially if you throw lipstick and shaving cream into the mix.

"Hey, you know, maybe we should bring the water after all." Wally said with a grin, obviously up to something. He zoomed over to Megan and leaned on the counter. "There's this game that's pretty much a tradition on Earth, and I'm sure you love it."

"Don't even think about it, Kid." The brunette gave him a terrifying glare. Certainly not as good as the Bat-glare, but close. "One bottle each. Not the whole case." True, she knew what he was up to, but that doesn't mean she didn't want to do the same, after all.

Robin smirked. He was sure that if they did play that game, things would go wrong, most likely with Wally and Artemis, and not only that, but half the team would probably refuse to participate. "We probably won't have that much time to mess around. It's not a real party, it's a mission... even if we had a real party afterwards, it'd probably be supervised by Red Tornado or something."

The patriot pouted. "Fine, then no games. But I'm still making my drink!" She went back to mixing the second batch of cookies and making the concoction that she called a drink at the same time.

The boys turned back to the TV, and Conner reached for the remote, only to have Wally run and grab it. "No! Not again!" he said, pulling it next to his face and gently stroking it.

"He just wanted to change the channel." Megan said, looking up from where she was eagerly watching the cookies in the oven. Wally frowned, of course. Why would she side with Superboy? Was she trying to make it less obvious how totally in love she was with the ginger speedster?

"Oh, please." Miss USA rolled her eyes and pulled out the first batch of cookies which had just finished and placed the kisses on them. Then she put the little balls of cookie dough on a second tray and smooshed down the top to make a little crater for the kisses. When Miss USA put that batch in, she hid the cookies that were done from Wally so he wouldn't sneak any before tonight.

Megan moved through the cabinets, having no luck with finding a container for the cookies when inspiration struck. "Conner, have you ever had a chocolate kiss before?" She was thrilled when he shook his head, and she grabbed one of the candies and made her way to the living room. "Here. They're just normal chocolate, but it's... bite sized, I guess." He accepted it, and she grinned.

"Does that mean I get one?" There was Wally, ruining the moment.

"Yup." The brunette teen picked up a kiss and tossed it towards KF, who snatched it in mid-air before it could hit his forehead, where Miss USA intended it to land. Of course, she knew that he would catch it, but it didn't hurt to try. He did disturb the sweet moment between Superboy and Megan, due to his lack of knowledge that the Martian had no interest in him. Maybe the candy would shut him up?

He was, of course, tempted to refuse due to the name and the person giving the chocolate to him, but food was food, and Wally loved food. "Thanks." he said quietly, and maybe a bit reluctantly.

"Oh, you gave him a kiss now? Artemis will not be happy." Robin said, smirking as usual. It was FUN to make fun of his enemies, and even better to tease his friends. This was, obviously, the second.

The small blush on Miss USA's cheeks wasn't hidden, but it wasn't too obvious. She didn't like Kid Flash _that_ way, well, she really didn't like him at all. But, she was pretty embarrassed. Not thinking about her actions caused her to "suffer" this teasing, although it certainly wasn't as bad as the time(s) she nearly got her mentor killed. Still, why should she have risked the humiliation? If maybe she was accused of doing something like this to Robin or Superboy, she wouldn't have minded. Because, (A) Superboy was basically taken, and by basically she meant that he was on the VERGE of dating M'gann, and (B) She really did like Robin...that way.

Wally decided it was a good idea to change the subject. "Aw, man, I just realized that we forgot to ask Irongirl if it was okay to tell the others!" Earlier that day, he wouldn't have felt the need to ask, but he did NOT need Miss USA blowing up on him again.

Miss USA (Or should you say Laura now that she was going to tell everyone?) looked up from what she was doing to tell everyone what her name was. If she didn't, Wally would if she gave him...permission. Might as well give out the truth yourself. "Robin and Kid Flash found out our secret identities. I'm Laura Marie Evens."

Superboy didn't really react, simply committing the name to memory, but Miss Martian noticed that she said "found out". She didn't say anything about it, but she had a feeling that it wasn't a good thing. "That's a pretty name! You know, I wish I had a middle name. I didn't realize that most people on Earth had one."

"Thanks." Miss USA smiled. "If you want a middle name, do you think it's to late to change your Earth name? Simply by just adding the middle name, not anything else." In her mind that jumbled messed of a sentence sounded a whole lot better...

"Oh, I don't know... I'm already registered for school and I'm pretty sure I'd have to fill out a ton of forms. It's not that big of a deal, just one of those little things. Besides, Conner doesn't have a middle name, either, and I'm sure he's not the only one." Megan didn't want to make a big deal out of anything, she was just trying to make conversation... Besides, what would she even use as a middle name?

"Well, it's not mandatory. I know plenty of people at my school without middle names." The younger girl went to the fridge and pulled out a water, chugging it down in less than 15 seconds. She crushed the bottle and threw it in the recycling bin, walking into the living room again. Miss USA sat on the couch and was very tempted to fall asleep right then and there, because it didn't really help that she stayed up all last night. It really wasn't her fault, though. The girl had been tossing and turning, unable to get a wink of sleep. Although, it hadn't affected her until now, but she was sure if anything came up that she would be able to shake off her sleepiness and get to work.

Robin glanced at the girl who was now beside him, although, as usual, no one could tell thanks to his mask. "Uh... you okay?"

"What? Oh, yeah. I'm fine." Miss USA covered her mouth when she yawned. "Peachier than Georgia's peaches." It didn't make sense, although in her weary state nearly everything was messed up. Stupid questions popped up into her mind. _Why does Robin wear a mask? Where did Irongirl go? Are the cookies done yet?_ She asked herself, but of course the girl already knew all the answers to each of them. But that doesn't mean she could actually place the answers to the questions.

"Uh-huh... If you're tired, you might as well take a nap or something." said the Boy Wonder.

"What? And I'M not allowed to take naps? I go to school, too, and I bet I actually need more rest because everything in my body is sped up!" Wally said angrily.

"You know what I think about that," the younger girl said while trying to yawn, waving her arm to try and point at Wally, also sounding like a drunken sailor, "I think we should all just..." Boom. She passed out, lying on the armrest of the couch.

Megan and Conner stared wide-eyed at the girl. She hadn't seemed tired until then... that was crazy. They only stopped when Robin mentioned the cookies, prompting Megan to run off and pull out a tray of slightly scorched pastries.

"...you know, maybe we should just buy a bunch of Oreos next time..." Wally said, uncharacteristically quietly.

"Oh, I love Oreos!" Megan cried, not quite realizing that it was an insult directed at her cooking. Her uncle J'onn had quite the affinity for the cookies, which, for some reason, he referred to as "chocos".

Suddenly, Wally got a..._brilliant_...idea. He started to search through the drawers, until the speedster finally came across what he had been looking for. A new black Sharpie. Kid Flash tip-toed into the living room and knelt down beside Miss USA's face. Just before he was about to put pen to...skin, the girl's eyes snapped open. "Touch me with that and I kill you." She growled, quoting Ziva David off of NCIS when she was studying the Bill of Rights and the Constitution to become a full-fledged NCIS agent. Miss USA was starting to think that she watched a _bit_ to much of that show...

Kid Flash stood there, marker still held above her face. He COULD make a quick mark and run... but he was too young (not to mention handsome) to die, so he slowly (for him, anyway) lifted the Sharpie and put the lid back on.

The girl smirked, "Smart boy." And sat back up. Although it had only been about 5 minutes she had been asleep, Miss USA felt as though she slept five hours. After a stretch and a yawn, she was good to go.

"Yeah, well... Science prodigy. Duh." That was really the best the speedster could come up with as he sped away to put the marker up. _Another day,_ he thought._ Soon, my friend, soon._ This was, of course, directed at the marker... which made him feel insane in a hilarious way.

* * *

><p><strong>Happy Harbor, Rhode Island<strong>

**September 25th, 11:19 P.M. EDT**

Irongirl sat on top of the building with everyone else, barely paying attention to what was being said. She had her helmet pulled around halfway up her face to drink whatever it was that Miss USA had made, which, truthfully, wasn't as bad as she had expected. Wally had chugged more than anyone else, of course, and was already getting jittery.

Jeanette had been feeling smug the entire time. She had given her parents a (fake, of course) flyer for some sort of science lock-in. She couldn't even remember all the details, but they'd immediately given her permission to go. They didn't bother investigating or anything, with all the stuff she'd been doing as of late.

"I'm just saying, we're like NCIS, sort-of." Miss USA was bickering with Wally over her all-time favorite show. "I'm Ziva, you're Tony. Well, not really. You're _like_ Tony. Actually, Artemis is more of Ziva. And then there's Robin, who's exactly like McGee. Except, McGee is a bit more...squishier than Robin. I would say Aqualad is Gibbs, since he's the leader and all, but Aqualad is nicer. And doesn't hit people as often. Well, when I say people I mean the team. I guess I'm like Abby, although I'm not goth. Or extremely science-y. I guess you're sorta like Abby, in a way. With all of the science stuff. Not the goth stuff. Who would be Duckie? Or Vance? Palmer? Hmm.." The girl babbled on and on about the NCIS things. Whenever somebody got her talking about things she likes, Laura wouldn't stop talking unless somebody gave her the Gibbs-slap to the back of her head or just told her to shut up.

Megan was grinning and laughing, although she admitted that she didn't get most of it.

"Squishier. Not more squishier. GRAMMAR, people! It's important." Irongirl started out deadpanning but quickly added that sort of tone that makes it obvious how much of a joke something is. "Seriously, though. Squishier. Not more squishier."

Laura stuck her tongue out at Irongirl but did it as more of a joke rather than she was annoyed with her. "I never said I was good in English!" She laughed.

"This has gotten so un-serious that it's not even funny... does that count as an oxymoron?" Wally said. This was supposed to be a mission, but... well, it was turning out to be more of a party, just as they had (sort of) wanted.

"Guys.." Artemis said slowly, looking over to the abandoned warehouse across from the building they were stationed at. All of them turned in time to watch a line of obviously humanoid figures making their way into the warehouse... and it looked like they might be carrying things, too.

"So, do we call the League now?" Superboy said, looking at Aqualad, who, surprisingly enough, shook his head.

"...we don't actually have proof that this has anything to do with the robberies. It could very well be some teenagers having a party." he said. Artemis raised an eyebrow, but they all understood what he was getting at: they needed to investigate.

"What's the plan?" Miss USA shot a quick look at Aqualad before trying to get a better view of the warehouse.

Kid Flash, of course, was way to hyper to stay in one spot on the building for more than 5 seconds. "What can I do?" The teen finally calmed down just the _tiniest_ bit so he could listen to what Aqualad wanted him to do.

The Atlantean had a strong feeling that he was going to regret his decision, but Wally's speed would be useful. "You can scout the outside building. Take a few laps and look inside through any windows... if you can." The speedster nodded frantically and pulled on his goggles, zooming down the fire escape and towards the warehouse.

It was a few minutes later, and Wally still wasn't back. The team was starting to get anxious, where DID the speedster go? Robin was worried the most, since Kid Flash was his best friend. So, of course, he slipped off to find him. Not even Superboy heard him leave.

A minute or two later, his absence was noted by Aqualad with a simple "I hate it when he does that."

"Great. Now two boys to find?" Artemis grumbled.

Aqualad devised a quick plan: they were to get in, get Wally and, if he didn't quickly find him, Robin, and get out, most likely to call the League. They would have to focus on staying together, of course, seeing as this was quickly getting much more sinister.

As the team advanced to the building, Miss Martian and Miss USA flew just above them, hoping to see something more that could tip them off to what they were getting into. Miss USA had a nagging feeling that she just couldn't quite place. Before it could phase her, she shook the feeling off; however, it felt as though what she felt was a warning for this mission. Something will go horribly wrong.

Irongirl, oddly enough, was on the ground with Aqualad, Artemis, and Superboy. She could've flown, but she was afraid that she would be too noisy. Megan pulled her hood on and flew to a window, careful to move slowly as she got closer so that she wouldn't be seen. Irongirl felt excited for a minute (It was like her new friend had an invisibility cloak! Just like Harry Potter!), but it quickly wore off when Miss Martian ducked, pulled the cloak down, and motioned for the others to come take a look.

Artemis was the first there, surprisingly enough. She had some ninja skills, it seemed, even if she wasn't as good as Robin. Miss USA was able to get over next, while the others took a while following through the tangled weeds that went around the sides and back of the building.

Sure enough, Miss USA's feeling proved to be true. There were rows of many teenage boys, all holding bags of money or other stolen items. In front of them sat the most horrifying..._thing_ that she laid eyes on. It was a strange creature, having a regular human body...but when you looked at her face, you would want to puke right then and there. It was a woman, for sure, but her face was flickering from a woman with ears of a cow, to a lion's head. Although it mainly remained on the woman with cow ears, the creature was still horrifying. But aside from her looks, Wally stood at the foot of her "throne", making googly eyes at her as if she was the most beautiful girl in the world.

"Of COURSE Wally would like that," Artemis grumbled, maybe a bit too loud. The nearest boys spun around to look at them.

_"That's Marvin!"_ M'gann's voice was suddenly blasting in all their heads. _"Oh, sorry. But he goes to school with Superboy and I! Something's up."_ Artemis resisted the urge to say something sarcastic.

Kaldur nodded, his eyes seeming slightly clouded over. "Mind control. It's got to be."

"Yeah, KF has better taste than that." Robin had dropped in out of nowhere as a dozen or so boys marched towards them.

Artemis and Miss USA each got in an eye roll before the whole team was forced into fighting off the teenage boys. It was really easy, I guess you could say. If you were comparing the boys to Red Skull, the Joker, or someone like that. They _were_ just humans who didn't have the skill or training for these young heroes.

Actually, the biggest challenge was probably making sure they didn't really injure the boys. In fact, they had to concentrate on it enough that Robin slipped away again to try and rescue his friend. ...actually, he would be probably be able to do that anyway.

"Robin!" Miss USA called out and the rest of the team looked to see where the young acrobat darted off to...again.

All of the boys were "finished", meaning they weren't fighting but they weren't...dead, so they ran (and flew) over to where Robin was. He stood somewhat close to the cow-head, looking at his best friend stare at...it.

He seemed to analyze him... then reached out and slapped him across the face. The ginger blinked and quickly brought a hand to his face, but the current villain spoke.

"Fight back." It was as if there were two voices, one as sweet as honey and the other like some sort of bird. The kind that screeches... or maybe a dying cat. Robin definitely didn't have time to think about it, seeing as he was now getting attacked by Kid Flash. He was slower than usual... reluctant, maybe? That seemed likely. He was strong willed, he could fight this mind control... "Do it for Hathor." Now the woman was using some sort of baby voice on him, and the older boy sped up.

Hathor HAD to be her name. Her villain name, at least, because there was no denying she was some sort of super villain. As the others rushed in, seeming to plan on charging her, she snapped her head towards them. There were still plenty of boys there, but she signaled for them to stay put. "Welcome. Won't you join me on this lovely night?" It sounded so cheesy, but each of them felt the slightest of a tug. She was powerful, that was for sure.

"Hathor." The patriotic teen hissed. She remembered the slightest bit of this villain. Either she was impersonating an Egyptian goddess, or they were very well fighting an immortal here.

"I thought Hathor was only supposed to have the ears of a cow." Irongirl said, earning a ton of funny looks. "What? I called her a cow! _I_ thought it was funny..." she said the last sentence a bit more quietly.

Miss USA opened her mouth to say something reassuring to her friend, like that is _was_ funny, but nothing came out. This girl didn't lie.

Artemis managed to focus on the task ahead and smoothly pulled out and nocked an arrow.

"You wouldn't, would you? Oh, dear. You're going to have to take her." With that, Aqualad nearly collapsed, holding his hands over his ears and looking as if he was in pain. The archer nearly dropped her weapon, and as a half-strangled cry escaped their leader's lips, Robin made the mistake of pausing to look, allowing Kid Flash to land a blow on his stomach, then his chest and another on his head before he fell. "You, too." Hathor said in a sing-song voice, and Kid Flash sped over to knock Artemis's bow out of her hands while Robin seemed to struggle against himself to get up.

Artemis was the first to come to her senses, somehow managing to hold her own against the ginger and working her way towards her bow again as they fought. "Don't you want to be like me?" Hathor crooned. Artemis found it a bit sickening. Of course, she barely had time to think about that before she jumped over Wally and spun to kick at his back. She missed, and she knew she would many, many more times, but she was hoping that he would run out of energy or snap out of it before he actually landed a hit on her.

Hathor kept working, not moving an inch or having her little army move. "You could fit in for once in your _miserable_ little lives." She said, showing real annoyance at them for the first time. "I could get you anything you wanted, really. I could give you the skinny little red headed boy if you like, or later on, ladies, I could give you one of the others. ANY of the others. Same goes for you boys, I suppose. You wouldn't have to deal with anyone else bossing you around. I don't boss people around, isn't that right?" The boys all said 'yes' in a ridiculously flat tone. "I request things. I give you a choice, and if you're just that thankful... well, it's all up to you. I promise." She had one of those annoying voices that, no matter how hard you concentrated, always stood out among all other sounds.

Finally, Aqualad managed to stand, although Robin was still writhing on the ground and talking to himself a bit. The Atlantean whipped out his water bearers... and charged the team. Great. Just great.

Miss Martian was the only one that seemed to falter before carefully fighting back. _Was it worth it, if it meant fitting in? _She wondered. The Martian girl always wanted to be apart of something...to know that no matter what, someone would be there and wouldn't judge her.

Unlike the rest of her team mates, Miss USA charged right back at the two boys and decided to beat the living snot out of them. Hey, they needed a good talking-to (or beating-to?) if they were weak enough to bend to Hathor's every wish. But of course, she was taking them on before forced to deal with Superboy, who seemed to be a bit confused. Not exactly withering on the floor like Robin, but just about on the verge of it.

Irongirl's mind was racing. What was she supposed to do? She couldn't shoot at Wally, he was too fast, she could hit Artemis... she didn't dare try to hit Robin, especially while he was down. He would bounce up and hit back, right? She had yet to notice that Megan and Superboy were beginning to be affected, so she saw no point in attacking them...

_So they're being mind controlled..._ she thought, and a very sarcastic part of herself replied with, _no, really?_

There were quite a few possibilities... maybe they could slap it out of them? She could shoot at Aqualad, maybe hit if she was lucky... but wait... They needed to take out the source! Irongirl rushed forward, not even bothering with flying... only to be knocked down by a throng of teenaged boys. _Right, plan B._ she thought. _Take out as many of these dimwits as possible while the others hold off the metas, THEN take out the source... Jeanette, you are DOOMED, DOOMED, I tell you!_

For about the next fifteen minutes, all teens were distracted fighting off the regular teens, and also the team mates that had "turned" on them. Somehow, Robin was able to be manipulated. And Superboy...they didn't know what to say about him. He was fighting, that's for sure, but it seemed as though he was holding back. Thankfully, that meant nobody would get seriously injured against the clone.

Miss Martian, on the other hand, was fighting right alongside Wally and Aqualad. Her need for being wanted, and to fit in, had sealed the mind controlling deal. She was hard to fight, too.

Hathor seemed to be getting quite bored with the whole thing, really. She found the teenager's moves old and repetitive, but only someone like her could notice that.

Artemis had managed to reach her bow, although it took a long time, and was reaching out to try and beat Wally with it. Lucky for him, she hadn't hit, because at the speed he was going SOMETHING would break, whether it was his bones, the bow, or both.

Miss USA was, quite frankly, having a fun time. An excuse to beat these guys senseless? A dream come true. What was even better, was that she was against Robin. He may have been quick, but he didn't know where she learned a lot of her combat moves from. The brunette shot up to duck when he went for her, and went to the ceiling of the warehouse. Once there, she turned completely upside-down, aimed for Robin, and dive-bombed straight towards him, using the little "trick" she learned from her bird. Ha, a bird move against bird boy, who would have thought of it?

Robin, thankfully, turned up just in time for his reflexes to kick in and bolt straight for where Artemis was fighting Wally. Unfortunately for Miss USA, though, she wasn't able to stop her body from going down until her head plummeted into the ground. The worst part? She was stuck there.

Artemis was about to finally whack Wally with her bow, when Robin came charging towards her. She brought her bow down with force just as Robin crashed into her. They tumbled backwards, and Robin fainted for a moment. His neck had a huge red mark in the outline of a bow like Artemis's.

"Okay, Speedy Gonzales. I guess you're next." Artemis mentally flinched at the cheesiness of what she just said, but it was the best she had, truthfully. Who would've thought Robin could put that much force behind, well, himself? She knew he was strong, but... she needed to give him more credit.

"Help!" Miss USA cried out, but it came out like a strangled goat's call. In her frustration, she had forgotten that she was a 13 year old hero-in-training with super strength. She pushed to pull her head out, and finally got it. When she did, her hair was a mess and her mask crooked.

Kid Flash took this as a great opportunity. He zipped up behind a still dazed Miss USA and yelled in her ear, "Surprise!", hitting her on the back of her head.

Irongirl WOULD have laughed if this was, say, a cartoon. That was pretty much the best attack someone could ask for. Well, best as in funniest. Also, Miss USA had a magic skirt. Yes. Irongirl was sure of it. It didn't even flip when she was upside down and... oh, jeeze, she was going insane. She HAD to get out of here. The girl glanced to her side, where Robin was still face down on the ground, and mentally winced. Then, she felt like congratulating Artemis. Accidental or not, taking down the boy wonder was quite the feat. Aqualad, using his water bearers, landed a hit on her and she remembered what she was supposed to be doing. This would be so much easier if the still had Megan. Maybe she could use mental attacks or something and... ugh. Aqualad hit her again, and Irongirl decided she needed to do some sort of training for concentration.

Miss USA suddenly got a burst of bravery. Before she lost the feeling, the fixed her appearance (force of habit), and marched right over to the Hathor lady. The "goddess" seemed quite amused that the brunette had the guts to approach her directly without any backup or something. "Listen, chick." Miss USA snarled, the regret starting to creep to her. "I don't know who the hell you think you are, but you better back off of me and my friends. You messed with the wrong heroes."

Hathor looked at the little twig before bursting out laughing. "Oh, yes. This one must go." Her sickeningly sweet voice caught the attention of Kid Flash, who zipped over to the two girls.

Wally was too enamored with the creature, so when Miss USA's hand snatched out to grab his arm with a death grip, he didn't notice it to run out of her reach. "Kid Flash." She growled. "Stop it! Look who's the bad guy here!" She grabbed his shoulders and looked into his eyes. "Cut. It. Out."

KF seemed to remember who he was for a moment, but Hathor's changing got him distracted. Very quickly her expression changed to that of pure rage, and her features morphed to the point that she looked like a woman, maybe in her twenties. It was an improvement on that weird cow thing she had going on previously, of course. Her hair looked like something straight out of the eighties... or maybe right off of a yappy little rat-dog.

Then the others began to come back to their senses. Most of the normal boys right out collapsed... Miss Martian stopped fighting Artemis before the archer realized what was going on, and so she got the same treatment as Robin. Ouch.

None of this helped Hathor's mood. Actually, it didn't help _Sekhmet's_ mood. There was some freaky stuff going on. This girl was, for the most part, a separate being.

The heroes who had previously been under Hathor's control were now able to fight against Sekhmet, who had powers of a completely different kind. You could also say Sekhmet was a bit smarter than Hathor, and she very quickly realized that she needed help.

Suddenly, a glowing light flew in from the window to where Sekhmet was standing. It seemed to glow brighter, and materialize into a woman that was similar to Sekhmet. She wore the same style of clothing, but had a human head along with large, falcon-like wings that she spread out. At the top of her head sat a glowing sun-disk.

The new Egyptian, Isis, began to chant. Golden heiroglyphics formed in front of her as she spoke, glowing brighter with each word. The teens looked at each other in confusion as the spell began to go into affect.

That was when they realized that they had royally screwed up. Aqualad was the first to pull out a communicator. "Aqualad to... anyone."

"Yeah, this is- wait, I mean, Green Arrow to Aqualad. You kids find something?"

"We... made a mistake. We need back-up at the warehouse we were watching. Immediately." The archer wasn't quite sure, but the boy's voice seemed to be getting a bit higher.

"Right. I'll send Red Tornado... that'll be enough, right?"

"It's... complicated. Just hurry."

"Doggy!" Screamed one of the girls in a high-pitched, squeaky voice, running after one of the youngest boys that was possessed just minutes before.

* * *

><p>"You failed." Luthor said in a very flat tone.<p>

"I was overwhelmed this time. They shocked me. Next time-"

"There won't be a next time." Hathor's eyes went wide before the bald man chuckled.

"Don't jump to conclusions. You may be useful to us yet. But you aren't even competent enough to even go against the League's brats on your own."

"No! I can! Just... let me train a bit longer. Once I get _stronger_..."

"They'll be stronger, too."

The girl smirked. "Not after what Isis did to them."

"Oh, yes. And how is Isis?"

"...comatose."

* * *

><p><strong>Red Arrow 123's AN: JUST figured out what KF was talking about with the whole "We should actually bring the water" thing. Um...don't ask. I'm not very good at those things. So, if Miss USA's answer seems completely illogical, feel free to virtually smack me.**


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